What to Know About Antioxidants and Their Role in Your Health

What are antioxidants?

Antioxidants are a sort of beneficial substance that is frequently included in foods like fruits and vegetables. They work to protect the body from oxidative stress, a process that is thought to have a role in the onset of a number of diseases.

Free radicals are a collective term for substances that are extremely reactive, which means they can adhere to and bind to healthy bodily cells like DNA and cause harm as a result.

Your body produces free radicals in reaction to factors like UV light exposure, pollution, smoking, as well as processes like digestion and strenuous exercise. Other environmental contaminants, such as ionizing radiation and certain metals, can lead to the body producing unusually high levels of free radicals.

Free radicals aren't always harmful on their own; in fact, certain free radicals are healthy as results of normal metabolic functions. In fact, they can perform a few crucial tasks for the body, like cell signaling.

Free radicals can become an issue when they are created in excess. Free radicals can harm cells through a process known as oxidative stress because they are so reactive. Numerous diseases, including cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration are thought to be influenced by oxidative stress.

Antioxidants are useful in this situation. What role do antioxidants play in this situation? They can aid in containing these free radicals. Antioxidants, sometimes referred to as free radical scavengers, assist in neutralizing free radicals and other substances in your body that might harm cells and tissues in order to combat oxidative stress.

Where can you find antioxidants?

Although your body naturally produces certain antioxidants, sometimes that is insufficient. Since your body frequently produces too many free radicals and is unable to control them, it is crucial to consume external antioxidants.

There are countless antioxidants, and they are not just found in the highly publicized superfoods or antioxidant meals. Antioxidants are present in a variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables, seafood, whole grains, and meats. They are also present in a number of dietary supplements, including vitamins for immune system health, specific protein powders, meal replacements, and antioxidant-rich skin care formulas, to name a few.

While some antioxidants are important minerals, others are vital vitamins that your body needs to function. Then there are antioxidants, which aren't technically regarded as necessary nutrients but nevertheless have an impact on tissues and cells. These can be found in dietary sources such plants, animals, and other foods.

What are the health benefits of antioxidants?

Although it's often very difficult to pick out precise associations, there is evidence to show that some antioxidants are linked to lower chances of several diseases. Nevertheless, a larger consumption of flavonoids has long been connected to a lower risk of heart disease. While high consumption of beta-carotene seems to be linked to a decreased risk of breast cancer, high intake of lycopene appears to be linked to a lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer.

While a lot of evidence suggests a connection between higher antioxidant intake and a reduced risk of disease, we cannot state with absolute certainty that supplementing with a particular antioxidant will have a specific effect on your health.

How do you get more antioxidants?

Antioxidants can be obtained mostly through food and supplements. For a few good reasons, experts typically advise choosing whole meals over dietary supplements for obtaining antioxidants.

How to get enough antioxidants from foods

Studies are unable to conclusively determine whether the antioxidants themselves, additional nutrients found in meals high in antioxidants (such as other vitamins and minerals), or a synergistic mix of these factors are the cause of the beneficial effects on health. Along with the many other phytochemicals found in plants, there are other lesser-known substances in food that have been demonstrated to have antioxidant capabilities. Therefore, it's extremely likely that many antioxidants and other ingredients found in, for example, a tomato, are combining to nourish you.

Regardless of the specific roles that each phytonutrient may play, you can get the advantages associated with them all by consuming a range of foods that are strong in antioxidants. Additionally, whole foods like berries, greens, root vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and coffee are all-around extremely beneficial to your health. Fruits and vegetables, which are high in antioxidants, also provide a ton of nutrients that your body needs, such as water, carbs, and other critical vitamins and minerals. In other words, there are numerous benefits to including a wide variety of foods high in antioxidants in your diet on a daily basis.

What to know about getting antioxidants from supplements

How about vitamins then? For most people, eating a balanced diet means getting enough antioxidants naturally without the need for supplements.

While eating a lot of fruits and vegetables is healthy—a fact supported by decades of research—the same cannot be true of antioxidant pills. For instance, when it comes to disease prevention, researchers have conducted numerous studies on various antioxidant supplements, including substantial, large-scale clinical trials, and the majority of them have concluded that these supplements do not lower the risk of contracting diseases like heart disease and cancer.

In addition, there is some evidence that antioxidant supplements may possibly be hazardous, especially in large amounts, unlike antioxidant foods. Additionally, several drugs and antioxidant supplements can interfere.