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What Are Antioxidants?

In a nutshell free radicals (the bad guys) are all around us every day attacking our bodies both inside and out through the food we eat, the air we breath and the pollution that is all around us.  Antioxidants (the good guys) help to minimise the effects that these free radicals have on our bodies so it is exceptionally important that we try to increase our antioxidant intake every day.

Mankind evolved on Earth when it was already filled with plant life, and  plants influenced human evolution. Plants interact with the atmosphere  differently than humans. While humans consume oxygen and produce carbon  dioxide, plants take in carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen. This  oxygen produced by plants is a chemically reactive compound that would damage and kill the plant, so plants evolved the ability to make antioxidants such as  Vitamin C, Vitamin E and colorful chemicals to protect their cells from the  damaging effects of oxygen. This system sometimes breaks down and the damage  from oxygen can be seen when a houseplant gets too little light or water and  its leaves turn brown.

The oxygen we breathe can also damage human tissues, as illustrated by  the damaging effects of 100 percent oxygen in intensive care units, where the  lung tissue can be destroyed without proper protection. Like plants, humans  evolved defense systems that are based on circulating substances and proteins.  These systems are reinforced with the intake of antioxidants in the diet from colourful fruits and vegetables. There is overwhelming data showing that  populations that consume a diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables have lower risks of many common chronic diseases.

It takes very little to avoid vitamin and mineral deficiencies, but the  optimal levels of intake of antioxidants are likely greater than the amounts  needed to avoid deficiency.

Vitamin C
For example, humans, unlike many species of animals, have lost the gene for making Vitamin C, because it was part of ancient mankind’s diet, which was  rich in Vitamin C from fruits and vegetables. Eating a single orange provides twice the recommended amount of Vitamin C needed to prevent Vitamin C  deficiency. In the 1750s, sailors in the British navy developed the disease called scurvy, characterized by bleeding gums, corkscrew hairs and ultimately death, from a lack of Vitamin C. It was customary for sailors to eat no plants at sea.

However, once it was discovered that eating limes or other citrus  prevented scurvy, citrus became part of the sailors’ diets (which is why  British sailors were called limeys).

Today, inadequate intake of antioxidants is not as noticeable as the deficiency disease of scurvy, but the inadequate intake of plants, including colourful fruits and vegetables, is thought to be associated with many chronic  diseases of aging.

Herbalife products that can assist with vitamin, mineral and antioxidant supplementation are: RoseOx (immune) & Formula 2 (multi-vitamin)

Weight Loss Made Simple | Kent Road | Harrogate | HG1 2NH | Tel: 01423 529 708

Article from Herbalife Institute of Nutrition.