During cold and flu season, everyone reminds us to consume plenty of antioxidants. My previous blog also said that antioxidants can help to improve your overall heart health. So what is an antioxidant? How does it work?
Antioxidants are vitamins and minerals found in high levels in fruits and vegetables. Beta-carotene, a major antioxidant, can be found in pumpkin, pink grapefruit, spinach, tomatoes and many others. Two other important antioxidants are Vitamin C, found in berries, broccoli, oranges, etc. and Vitamin E, found in carrots, mustard, papaya, etc.
Your body goes through the process of oxidation, in which cells die and new cells are formed. While this process is natural, some of the cells involved in the oxidation process can become damaged and go around damaging other cells; these cells are called free radicals. The free radicals eventually mutate your DNA so as it duplicates, it forms diseases.
Antioxidants help to prevent and stop the formation of free radicals. Vitamin C is one antioxidant that helps to prevent free radicals. While you should continue to drink orange juice and consume other foods with Vitamin C when you have a cold, understand that Vitamin C is most efficient in the prevention of new free radicals and will not kill the ones that have already formed and made you sick. Vitamin E is one of the antioxidants that does kill existing free radicals and can help to make you feel better.
It is also important to note that the formation of free radicals can be influenced by the invironment. Excess amounts of sunlight can trigger free radicals in the skin, causing skin cancer. Breathing in cigarette smoke can also cause free radicals to form and spread.
www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/how-antioxidants-work1
One thing that you talk about a great deal and I definately agree with you on is the idea of taking an abundance of vitamin C. I feel that vitamin C is very important for you and great for your immune system. I try to take a vitamin C tablet every day and you can pick them up at pretty much any nutrition store and even in most grocery stores. There all different types of Vitamin C out there whether you want a tablet, or chewable, or even just consuming a great deal of foods that contain vitamin C.
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