You’ve probably heard of antioxidants more than once. This word is often used in advertising, popular science programs, but it is unlikely that you know exactly what these substances are. They are spoken of as miraculous remedies that affect the body from the inside, help not to age and keep our cells in order and healthy.
What are these wonderful remedies and what is special about them? Where to get them and how to use them? Let’s figure it out and tell Goodshapetips.
About antioxidants and their properties
The attention of not only ordinary people is riveted to antioxidants and their effect on the body, they are closely studied by chemists and physicians, pharmacists and biologists, since quite serious and amazing abilities of their effect on body cells have been discovered.
Our life today is a series of stresses, environmental problems and poor nutrition. All these factors do not have the best effect on the state of our cells, they disrupt the coordinated work of individual organs and systems, which leads to poor health and unimportant appearance.
Due to the action of free radicals – harmful substances that appear in the body as a result of impaired metabolism – the cells suffer. Free radicals gnaw through cell membranes and cause cell death.
Antioxidants are those substances that guard the health of cells, they are able to neutralize free radicals, preventing them from damaging cell membranes, which means they preserve our strength and beauty.
Due to antioxidants, not only cell damage is prevented, but the process of restoring the destroyed is accelerated, recovery occurs, resistance to infections increases.
What it is?
In a healthy body, free radicals are formed in small volumes, and almost all of their negative effects on the cells of the body are prevented by antioxidants that come from outside or are formed inside the body. However, it is important that a person regularly receives portions of new antioxidants – then the balance will not be disturbed. But what do they contain?
Many of the vitamins and trace elements (in conjunction with body molecules) have antioxidant effects. Therefore, regular and proper nutrition almost completely supplies us with the necessary amount of antioxidants. We will discuss with you the most famous antioxidants and the products that contain them.
Vitamin C
Or the well-known vitamin C – the most famous among antioxidants and the most powerful. Thanks to the action of ascorbic acid, aging slows down, the risk of cancer and heart disease is reduced, it must be taken for dental healthbones and vessel walls.
And this vitamin is also important for maintaining the beauty of the body, it is involved in the formation of collagen – the main protein of elastic and smooth skin. In addition, it does not allow the harmful effects of the body to destroy other antioxidants – beta-carotenes and tocopherol. Antioxidants are especially recommended smoking peoplesince their concentration of radicals in the body increases by 2-3 times.
To get the required amount of vitamin C and experience its antioxidant effects, you need to eat a lot of citrus fruits, love limes and lemons, in second place are strawberry and garden greens.
Potatoes are also rich in vitamin C, but conventional potato cooking methods destroy most vitamin A. It is better to steam the potatoes, so there will be more vitamin C in it. Useful fresh vegetables – Bulgarian pepper, tomato, wild garlic and broccoli, spinach. Quite a lot of vitamin C and in kiwi, currants, sea buckthorn and viburnum.
Tocopherol, or vitamin E
This is the second most active antioxidant after vitamin C, it works well in the skin and reproductive system, and helps with atherosclerosis. It is a fat-soluble compound, so oil and fat-containing foods are richest in it.
A lot of tocopherol is found in cereals, virgin vegetable oils, germinated wheat grains, nuts and green vegetables. They are rich in almonds and cashews, hazelnuts and peanuts, cod liver, pike perch and eel. A lot of vitamin E in squid, dried apricots, prunes, and salmon.
Carotenes
These are the progenitors of vitamin A and some other compounds that have a fairly high antioxidant power. They act as cell protectors against free radicals, especially in the visual system, skin and immune system.
These substances are found in large quantities in yellow and orange vegetables and fruits, such as carrots and apricots, melons and pumpkins. Not far behind them are green vegetables – broccoli and spinach, wild garlic and seaweed. Liver and cheese, butter, cottage cheese, eel and other fatty fish, eggs, sour cream, processed cheeses and oysters are rich in carotenes.
Flavonoids
This is another group of substances that have a protective effect that stops the aggression of free radicals.
Flavonoids are a whole group of substances, the most famous of which is vitamin PP, or rutin. In nature, there are a lot of flavonoids in blueberries and other dark-colored berries, in green tea and cocoa, in apples and quince, in the skin grapes, cherries and sweet cherries, strawberries, raspberries and eggplants. There are a lot of flavonoids in citrus peel and pomegranates, including peels.
Anthocyanins
These are special substances with an antioxidant effect that give fruits and berries their color. They are widely distributed in nature and are fairly easy to obtain. They are rich in grapes, cherries and cherries, raspberries and strawberries, blueberries and blueberries, apples, plums and viburnum, chokeberry.
Selenium
This is one of the trace elements with a pronounced antioxidant effect, it actively protects a woman’s breasts and her skin, strengthens the immune system, and fights against the ingress of heavy metals into the body. Its combination with vitamins A and C relieves nervous tension and eliminates depression.
Unfortunately, there is not so much selenium in nature, and there are only a few products where it is sufficiently large – sea kale and marine fish species, cereals and liver, sunflower seeds.
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Of course, not only these compounds exhibit antioxidant properties – there are also tannins (these are substances from coffee and tea), lycopene from tomatoes, nicotinic acid and many other compounds. Therefore, if you want to reliably protect your body from the effects of free radicals, your diet should contain natural products and be varied in composition.
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