Antioxidant Supplement
The focus of research on vitamins these days is
how antioxidant supplements may play a role in
reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Antioxidant
supplements - E, C, and beta-carotene (a form
of vitamin A) - have potential when it comes to
health promotion. However, most data available
about such health promoting properties of antioxidant
supplements are incomplete. And only up to 30
percent Americans are taking some form of antioxidant
supplements.But what exactly are antioxidants
and how important are they?Antioxidants come in
two forms. They can either be vitamins or minerals.
They help prevent oxygen from reacting with
other chemicals in cells. Such reactions - called
oxidation - could lead to cell damage which may
result in heart disease and cancer.Antioxidants
can be found in a variety of foods, but they are
far more common in fresh fruits and vegetables.
A health diet of fresh produce could lead to high
levels of antioxidants in your body, which could
only mean one thing - less free radicals (those
harmful molecules that cause cell damage) and
a healthier you.When antioxidants start to work,
they destroy the free radicals or break the chain.
You see, here's what happens when you have lots
of free radicals in your body. Because they are
highly unstable, these free radicals have the
tendency to steal or get electrons from stable
molecules and in so doing, make those molecules
unstable as well, turning them into free radicals.
This becomes a long chain and will go on and on
until such a chain in broken.
This is where antioxidants come in whose sole
function is to break the chain and neutralize
free radicals.During the process of neutralization,
the antioxidants are neutralized themselves. Hence,
they also become oxidized. That is why the body
needs a constant source of antioxidants in order
to keep combating these harmful free radicals
and stop them from multiplying.With the kind of
diet most of us have these days, it is very likely
that we may not be getting enough antioxidants
from the foods that we eat. And remember that
the body needs to replenish its levels of antioxidants
constantly. This is where antioxidant supplements
come in.Because the body may not be getting enough
antioxidants because you don't enough fruits or
you don't eat a lot of vegetables, you therefore
need an alternate source such as antioxidant supplements.Antioxidant
supplements are that source. And while antioxidant
supplements can't very well take the place of
natural antioxidants, they can however aid in
increasing the level of antioxidants in your body.
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