Ageless Antioxidants

Certain foods are often termed as good for heart, good for blood sugar control etc, But what about foods that protect your body against damage or cell damage?? They are the ones that are rich in antioxidants is'in it??

Lets discover what these antioxidants actually are??

 Antioxidants are naturally producing compounds in our body to counteract on the damaging effects of free radicals. Free radicals are responsible for ageing too.

Lesser known is that Oxygen to humans act as a boon and bane. Oxygen in the body forms free radicals, that are highly reactive in nature. Its when these free radicals react with other body molecules, cause oxidative stress.

 Oxidative stress happens when the number of free radicals  more than the antioxidants produced. To keep the balance its necessary to supply them through external sources.

External sources are plant based foods such as vegetables, fruits, tea, coffee, chocolates etc.Some of the popularly heard names in the list of antioxidants are lycopene(present in tomatoes), flavanola( chocolates), Resveratrol(wine), vitamin A- Beta carotene (yellow fruits and veggies), vitamin C, vitamin E etc.

Antioxidants have a serious hype, when researchers found a link between antioxidants as properties to reduce cancer inducing cells. Since then the market has been flooded with antioxidant supplements from powder to pills. They are aggressively marketed as anti ageing agents too. They claim to benefit the skin and give flawless beauty.

With these came up the question how much supplement to have?  Well known scientists answered this saying with a lot of supplementation, we curb the body's mechanism  in antioxidant production and finally switch them off.

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What is the solution then?

 Its always better to keep the food balanced with good amounts of fruits and vegetables.Some foods like blueberries often are in the lime light when it comes to natural rich sources of antioxidants. But less light on any plant based food and drinks like coffee to cocoa, grapes to green tea.

Other unexpected sources comes in the forms of spices and herbs. Though used in smaller quantities daily, since they are dried, concentration increases.Good portions of any fruits are vegetables make up for antioxidant dose in the day. Some of them top the list are dark colored fruits like berries