Most of us have heard that antioxidants and vitamins have many health benefits and can even prevent cancer. But getting the correct intake of antioxidants every day as not as simple as eating your fruits and veggies regularly. Find out how to take the most advantage of antioxidants in everyday life and to stay younger and healthier.
Cancer can affect anybody, and despite all the cancer research there is still no real cure for it. That is why it is so important for everybody, to take some preventive measures against cancer. The best way to prevent cancer is to include antioxidants and vitamins into your everyday diet.
We all know how bad free radicals can be for our health. But what are they? To put it simply, free radicals are particles that allow extra oxygen into human cells, which causes the cells to break. Antioxidants and vitamins can stop this distractive process.
Antioxidants And Vitamin Rich Foods
All doctors recommend including a variety of fruits and vegetables into your diet. These bring many benefits to your health, being low in fat and high in fiber. But they are also very rich in antioxidants. Brightly colored vegetables and fruits contain the most antioxidants. So including beetroot, carrots and red capsicum in your everyday menu, would serve you a reasonable amount of antioxidants.
Here are foods with highest content of antioxidants:
-Acai Berries
- blackberry,
- strawberry,
- blueberry,
- red grape
- walnuts
- sunflower seeds
- ginger
- spices
- green tea
- coffee without milk
Common vitamins like Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin E are all powerful antioxidants, so all fruits rich in these vitamins should be included. But there are many more, for example red wine and red grape contains Resveratrol, an important antioxidant. Another great antioxidant Flavonoid can be found in green tea. So, the most sensible thing to do is to include a wide variety of different fruits, vegetables and berries in your diet. Berries are particularly good, because they all contain large quantities of antioxidants and vitamins.
And there is one more source of antioxidants, a food that is usually on a “bad for you” list – chocolate. But it has to be dark chocolate; milk chocolate doesn’t have antioxidant properties. When you eat chocolate, or any antioxidant food, avoid drinking milk at the same time. Milk significantly reduces the effect of antioxidants.
More health benefits of antioxidants
Did you know you can turn back the clock with antioxidants? Yes! They can not only help you feel younger but look younger too!
Filed under Antioxidants & Anti-aging by on May 26th, 2009. Comment. 
Antioxidants: Meet the “New-trients”
Today’s consumers are witnessing a new era in how foods are identified. New nutrients, not commonly understood for their health benefits, seem to be popping up on our grocer’s shelves every day. Omega fatty acids, newly defined sources of dietary fiber, and antioxidant phytochemicals are examples of healthful plant elements that are creeping into public media reports and water-cooler debates.
Laboratory and preliminary human clinical studies are revealing anti-disease properties of these “nutrients“. Extensive food and medical research underway presently will eventually translate the chemical properties into consumer understanding and terminology that we’ll grasp and use in everyday conversation.
With such potential significance to public health, the consumer education process should begin now in a way that people, from teenagers to grandparents, can readily understand antioxidants as easily as we now understand calories, carbohydrates, fat percentage, and vitamin C.
The scientific and regulatory bodies for food labeling have a great challenge ahead of them.
There are thousands of plant food sources with suspected health benefits with complicated chemical names that are unfamiliar and can be intimidating. The challenge at hand is to decipher this blizzard of names and to promote better nutrition for our families and for ourselves.
Why Antioxidants?
The beneficial antioxidant chemicals that we get from colorful plant foods represent our best defense against threatening oxidants. While oxidative stress is a normal part of cellular metabolism that occurs even in healthy people, left unchecked, it can lead to damage that accumulates with age.
Normally, oxidative species or “free radicals” are neutralized by antioxidant enzymes and food-derived antioxidants. However, the following circumstances can cause an imbalanced oxidant-antioxidant relationship that allows oxidative stress to go unopposed.
• Contamination by environmental conditions like pollution, radiation, cigarette smoke and herbicides
• Normal aging
• Poor diets that lack essential nutrients and phytochemicals
The result of this imbalance is cell and tissue damage that could lead to diseases like:
• Cancer
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Chronic inflammation
• Neuronal degeneration like Alzheimer’s disease
The Color Code for Antioxidants
Over the past five years, we have begun a valuable process for recognizing plant food antioxidant qualities by groupings of color—The Color Code, as written in two books entitled The Color Code and What Color is Your Diet? (publication information below).
The following is a summary of those color guides for antioxidants, and an example of how we can begin to classify and categorize the different antioxidants into the food color code.
Summary of the Color Code
This is a general scheme of example foods that can fit into each color class. Keep in mind that there are no firm lines between the classes, which allows for overlap.
1. Red – tomato, pink grapefruit, watermelon
2. Blue/Red/Purple/Black (BRPB) – blueberry, cherry, prune, blackberry
3. Orange/Yellow – carrot, pumpkin, orange, papaya
4. Green – broccoli, kale, spinach, pea
5. White – garlic, onion, cabbage, turnip
6. Brown/Gray – spices, nuts, seeds, endogenous sources
How to Apply the Color Code
Here’s a general breakdown of the color groups that have food chemicals with antioxidant qualities:
1.Enzymes (Brown/Gray)
A protein substance with a name ending in “ase”, enzymes stimulate biochemical reactions in living cells and help form new compounds that, in this case, would serve antioxidant functions.
Members of this enzyme class of antioxidants include:
• Superoxide dismutase
• Catalases
• Reductases
• Peroxidases
• Transferases
2.Vitamins (Brown/Gray)
Most consumers would already recognize the three main antioxidant vitamins—A, C and E—that are derived from food and supplements common to the public. Vitamins A and E are fat-soluble, providing antioxidant protection in cell structures like the outer membrane and inner nuclear organelles. Vitamin C dissolves readily in body water compartments, so it is well distributed in the body. Of particular note is the important role of vitamin C in protecting vitamins A and E from damaging oxidative free radicals.
3.Phenolics (BRPB)
With more than 8,000 individual chemicals that serve plants as pigments, the phenolics (also called phenols or polyphenols) are water-soluble acids that not only give plants colors, but also differentiate scents, tastes, and bitterness. The large class of phenolics (called flavonoids) is often mentioned in current public media. Quercetin, kaempferol and peonidin are examples of flavonoids that have been in the news recently.
4.Carotenoids (Orange/Yellow, Red)
A fat-soluble group of more than 600 individual chemicals, the carotenoids (e.g., beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin “zee-a-zan-thin”) are especially powerful antioxidants. Due to their chemical structure, they are an excellent source of electrons that are aggressively sought by oxidative free radicals. A carotenoid molecule donates electrons to a free radical, sacrificing itself in antioxidant defense. Terpenes and xanthophylls are included in this class.
5.Hormones (Brown/Gray)
A growing field of medical research is identifying normal hormones typically described with cell-to-cell messaging roles in the body as having antioxidant functions. Presently only a few hormones have this identified property such as melatonin, estradiol and insulin, but future research will likely unravel similar functions for the dozens of hormones known in human physiology.
6.Minerals (All colors)
Minerals have elements that enable enzyme activity. Selenium, zinc, manganese, magnesium and copper are minerals involved in hundreds of antioxidant roles in the body.
7.Glutathione (Brown/Gray)
Probably the human body’s single most important native antioxidant, glutathione is a water-soluble molecule synthesized from food-derived amino acids. It also depends on lipoic acid (below) for synthesis.
8.Lipid effectors (Orange/Yellow)
Lipoic acid is perhaps the “perfect” antioxidant because it is a small powerful molecule that dissolves readily both in fatty layers of cells and in water – the only antioxidant to do this. Other lipid oriented antioxidants include omega fatty acids, tocopherols (like vitamin E), phytosterols, perillyl alcohol and essential oils such as limonene.
9.Saponins, steroids and stilbenes (Green, BRPB)
Related in this discussion only by their common first letter “s”, this group has established antioxidant functions and includes some well-known chemicals such as resveratrol (a stilbene of red wine and dark grapes), brassinosteroid (the growth regulator of plants) and saponin (the waxy covering on plant leaves).
10.Sulfur-containing chemicals (Green, White)
Including organosulfides, tri and diallyl sulfides and sulforaphane, this group from plants like broccoli and cabbage has been shown to have properties affecting antioxidant enzyme activity, inflammatory mediators and tumor growth.
Proposing an Antioxidant Nomenclature
Just as vitamins have been given a nominal identity (Vitamin A, B, C…etc) so too should we refer to antioxidants. This is a new system not yet formally proposed to any regulatory authority or scientific body. Classification of antioxidants must undergo the scrutiny, revision and adoption by scientists, industry and government to be acceptable for food label use in the public.
Here is the proposed breakdown:
1. Antioxidant C – carotenoids
2. Antioxidant E – enzymes
3. Antioxidant G – glutathione
4. Antioxidant H – hormones
5. Antioxidant L – lipid-associated chemicals
6. Antioxidant M – minerals
7. Antioxidant P – phenolics
8. Antioxidant S – saponins, steroids, stilbenes, sulfurs
9. Antioxidant V – vitamins
Over time, the public must feel these proposed antioxidant classes are informative and practical for understanding antioxidants and choosing preferred foods. Time will tell, but this list gives us a simple working structure to get a handle on naming antioxidants.
Reading
* Heber D. What Color Is Your Diet? HarperCollins, New York, 2001.
* Joseph JA, Nadeau DA, Underwood A. The Color Code, Hyperion, New York, 2002.
* Lee J, Koo N, Min DB. Reactive oxygen species, aging, and antioxidative nutraceuticals. Compreh. Rev. Food Sci. Food Safety 3:21-33, 2004.
Copyright 2006 Berry Health Inc.
By: Dr. Paul Gross
About the Author:
Dr. Paul Gross is a scientist and expert on cardiovascular and brain physiology. A published researcher, Gross recently completed a book on the Chinese wolfberry and has begun another on antioxidant berries. Gross is founder of Berry Health Inc, a developer of nutritional, berry-based supplements. For more information, visit http://www.berrywiSEOnline.com
Filed under Antioxidants & Anti-aging by on May 1st, 2009. %s Comments.
Cancer can affect anybody, and despite all the cancer research there is still no real cure for it. That is why it is so important for everybody, to take some preventive measures against cancer. The best way to prevent cancer is to include antioxidant vitamins into your everyday diet.
We all know how bad free radicals can be for our health. But what are they? To put it simply, free radicals are particles that allow extra oxygen into human cells, which causes the cells to break. Antioxidant vitamins can stop this distractive process.
Antioxidant vitamins rich foods
All doctors recommend including a variety of fruits and vegetables into your diet. These bring many benefits to your health, being low in fat and high in fiber. But they are also very rich in antioxidants. Brightly colored vegetables and fruits contain the most antioxidants. So including beetroot, carrots and red capsicum in your everyday menu, would serve you a reasonable amount of antioxidants.
Here are foods with highest content of antioxidants
- cherries,
- blackberry,
- strawberry,
- blueberry,
- red grape
- walnuts
- sunflower seeds
- ginger
- spices
- green tea
- coffee without milk
Common vitamins like Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin E are all powerful antioxidants, so all fruits rich in these vitamins should be included. But there are many more, for example red wine and red grape contains Reservatrol, an important antioxidant. Another great antioxidant Flavonoid can be found in green tea. So, the most sensible thing to do is to include a wide variety of different fruits, vegetables and berries in your diet. Berries are particularly good, because they all contain large quantities of antioxidant vitamins.
And there is one more source of antioxidants, a food that is usually on a “bad for you” list – chocolate. But it has to be dark chocolate; milk chocolate doesn’t have antioxidant properties. When you eat chocolate, or any antioxidant food, avoid drinking milk at the same time. Milk significantly reduces the effect of antioxidants.
Antioxidant vitamin supplements – are they any good?
Getting vitamins and antioxidants from natural sources is of cause the best. However, with our busy lives many people can’t eat as much fresh produce as they would like. Also bear in mind that when you buy vegetables and fruits during winter months, their antioxidant value is very low. Most vitamins are easily destroyed by light and storage, so tomatoes that are sold in a supermarket in December give you almost no health benefits, even though in general a tomato is considered a good source of antioxidants.
In this case antioxidant supplements can be beneficial. There are plenty of vitamins and dietary supplements on the market. Some of them are specifically marketed as “antioxidant supplements” others are just a variety of vitamins. Many multivitamins contains 100% of all essential vitamins for your health. Also remember, that Vitamin C is an antioxidant, and multivitamins usually don’t contain enough of Vitamin C. So it makes since to take additional Vitamin C supplements.
Whether or not vitamin supplements are as good for you as antioxidants from natural sources is debatable. Some doctors say that by taking antioxidant supplements you can meet most of your antioxidant needs. Others argue that supplements are not as beneficial as vitamins you get from food.
The problem is that vitamins in a pill are not as easily absorbed by our bodies as nutrients we get from food. So eating mostly fast food and taking antioxidant vitamin supplements to compensate is not such a good idea after all.
You can also get natural antioxidant supplements, like grape seed extract. These are absorbed better, than synthetic vitamins.
More health benefits of antioxidants
The best you can do for yourself is to include antioxidant rich foods in your diet and take antioxidants supplements if you feel that you need additional antioxidant boost. But only take quality antioxidant supplements, when it comes to vitamins they are not the same.
By: Tatyana Turner
About the Author:
Find out what other antioxidant vitamin supplements are essential to your health. Tatyana Turner publishes an online health magazine Antioxidants 4 Health Guide where you can find reviews of best antioxidant supplements
Filed under Antioxidants & Anti-aging by on Apr 18th, 2009. 1 Comment.
What is the secret to a long and healthy life? It is in the food that we eat and providing our bodies with the necessary diets that work does not need to difficult. As you well know, all foods are not created equal. Choosing and eating the right foods may help increase your life expectancy as well as the quality of your life.
Here are ten of the top power packed foods designed to give you energy, vitality and all around good health!
1. Beans
– If they give you gas, take precautions before you eat them. Soaking them first can help. Beans of all kinds (kidney, navy, lentils, chickpeas, Northern) are high in protein. This is plant protein so it contains very little fat, carbs and calories. If fiber is a problem in your diet, eating a healthy portion of beans each day can keep your digestive system healthy.
2. Oatmeal
– Oatmeal is coming into popularity as a food that lowers blood cholesterol. You can make it yourself with rolled oats or eat the instant kind if you are in a hurry. Oatmeal is a filling grain that also provides much needed fiber to keep hunger at bay and your blood sugar constant.
3. Fruits
– Fruits are filled with antioxidants such as Vitamin C and A. Antioxidants fight free radical damage in the body and reduce the risk of cancer. Berries such as blueberries and grapes have the highest amount of antioxidants. But choose an array of fruits in a wide variety of colors for maximum health. The antioxidants in fruit boost the immune system to fight the effects of aging in the body.
4. Allium foods
– This class of foods includes garlic, onions, leeks and shallots. Garlic is known for lowering cholesterol. Allium vegetables healp guard the body against the risk of cancer and many other ailments. They also help lower blood pressure and prevent blood clots. Eating these power packed vegetables in their natural state especially garlic increases their health benefits.
5. Salmon
– Eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids reduces the risk of heart disease and other conditions like atherosclerosis. Wild salmon is a fatty fish but it contains good fats that has been proven to improve health in children and adults. Salmon is rich in protein which is of great use after an exercise session to build muscle tissue.
6. Flax seed
– Like salmon it contains omega-3 fatty acids. These seeds also contain omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids. You get a lot of power to fight high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes with this seed. Ground flax seed can be added to fruit smoothies, sprinkled in yogurt, eaten with cereal or added to pancake mix to name a few.
7. Peppers
– Peppers are colorful. They contain antioxidants like beta-carotene and Vitamin C. Peppers range from mild and sweet to so hot you’ll be calling the fire department. All peppers contain a substance called capsaicin. Capsaicin has the properties of an anti-inflammatory, a pain reliever, lowers cancer risk and heart disease. They are good in salads, salsa and all sorts of dishes.
8. Nuts and seeds
– Nuts are high in fat but those fats are the good kind. Peanuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, walnuts and pistachios are all providers of good fats and protein. Crush them into a fine powder and use as a coating instead of higher carb bread crumbs. Nuts help to lower cholesterol. Eat them right out of the shell with no additives.
9. Açai
– This berry has been in the news lately. It is rich in antioxidants and increases energy. You can get more done and look better while doing it. You can get Acai juice and supplements in your health food store.
10. Yogurt
– The fat free variety is good for you. Yogurt contains calcium, Vitamin B, and protein. If you don’t drink milk, yogurt is an alternative to get your calcium in to build strong bones and teeth. Live yogurt also contains friendly bacteria to help promote a healthy digestive system.
Building a better healthier body begins with what you eat and finding the right diets that work. Try these super foods to get started on the right foot.
Filed under Diets That Work - What's In Your Belly? by on Mar 17th, 2009. Comment.
Everyone wants to grow old gracefully. Some go under the knife to get that youthful look while others opt for a more natural way to maintain that healthful glow by maintaining healthy, but easy and tasty, diets that work. The way to make peace with age can be found in the types of foods that we eat and the miracle ingredient they contain.
This hidden “miracle” is called antioxidants. They have graced the pages of magazines, medical journals and every product from hand cream to supplement pills. But what are antioxidants and what can they do to keep you looking your best?
Antioxidants are substances that fight the aging process that goes on in your body. They are not produced by the body so to get the benefit of these power-packed substances you must ingest them. A variety of foods contain antioxidants.
Let’s go back to the beginning. The body continually replenishes its cells. Through a process called cellular metabolism, the body produces energy, more cells and repairs any damage. One by-product of cellular metabolism is unstable molecules called free radicals.
Free radicals are molecules that damage your body. They are unstable because they are missing an electron. To get another one and become stable, free radicals will steal electrons from cells. That theft damages the cells in a variety of ways.
The results are visible and invisible changes to our bodies. The development of diseases like cancer, diabetes, arthritis and neurological deficiencies may begin to affect you as you age. Also, thinner skin wrinkles and brittle bones are a problem. Free radicals enter our body from outside sources as well: cigarette smoke, radiation and the sun’s UV rays. The more free radicals we encounter, the greater the damage that can be done.
Antioxidants have been shown to be of great help in the free radical problem. Antioxidant substances combine with free radicals and neutralize them. Once they are neutralized, they can no longer do any damage. Scientists don’t have any idea of a recommended daily dose of antioxidants to correct free radical damage and the diseases that come with age, but they do know that eating foods rich in antioxidants makes a huge difference in how we live.
Where do you find antioxidants? They are all around us and are readily available in diets that work. Look no further than your local farmer’s market or produce aisle in the grocery store. Fruits and vegetables contain the principle sources of antioxidants.
Examples of antioxidants include:
* Vitamin C
* Vitamin A
* Vitamin E
* Lutein
* Lycopene
* Beta-carotene
Certain minerals like zinc and selenium also function in the body. They are not antioxidants but they boost the immune system to fight against free radical damage.
Antioxidants are also found in nuts, legumes, cold water fish, seafood and red meat. So, eating a varied diet of fruits, vegetables and the foods just named will increase the amount of antioxidants in your system and help reduce the incidence of disease. Eating fruits and vegetables in their natural form instead of juices brings the benefit of other nutrients found in the foods. Juices also contain a lot of sugar that is not needed by your body.
Food does more than stave off hunger. Natural substances found there can cause us to live longer and stay free of disease as we age. Yes, that means put away that bag of chips and start adopting the diets that work to reduce free radicals
Filed under Diets That Work - What's In Your Belly? by on Mar 14th, 2009. 1 Comment.
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