When it comes to health and dietary products, you may hear the word ‘antioxidants’ being thrown around frequently and promoted for being good for your body, but have you ever wondered exactly why these antioxidants are so important?
Due to a process known as oxidation, free radicals produced by our bodies can steal electrons from other cells and potentially damage genetic material by altering the information coded in the strands of our DNA.
Which is why your body needs molecules known as ‘antioxidants’ to counter these free radicals, protect and repair DNA and maintain cell health. Your body produces these antioxidants from the variety of foods you consume, specifically fruits.
According to some studies, foods rich in flavonoids can prevent metabolic diseases and cancer; foods like apples, grapes, citrus fruits, berries, tea, onions, and olive oil are packed with flavonoids.
When it comes to natural and most preferred sources of antioxidants, filling your plate with fruits of all colours is a good start, especially purple, blue, red, orange, and yellow colours.
Fruits are packed with nutrients and are rich in antioxidants like beta-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E, which your body needs on a regular basis.
Almost every fruit you come across has some variant of antioxidant or the other. Listed below are some fruits that you can access without much difficulty to get your fill of antioxidants.
- Grapes and berries are rich in anthocyanins.
- Pumpkins, mangoes, apricots, and carrots contain beta-carotene.
- Nuts and dried fruits are a good source of copper, zinc and manganese.
- Mangoes, papayas and apples contain cryptoxanthin.
- Oranges, blackcurrants, kiwifruit, mangoes, and strawberries are packed with vitamin C.
- Carrots are a good source of vitamin A.
- Avocados for vitamin E.
Besides fruits, vegetables are also considered to be good sources of many antioxidant nutrients. It is best to consume these nutrients via food, but sometimes you don’t have the time to make meticulously planned meals.
In order to benefit from these substances, you need a whole group of them to function together. For example, healthy dietary intake also allows your body to absorb phytochemicals Lycopenes from fruits like tomatoes, apricots, pink grapefruit and watermelon and anthocyanins from cranberries, also act like antioxidants, that you wouldn’t get otherwise in isolated vitamins or minerals. To complement a healthy diet, which may sometimes fall short of the essential vitamins, you can add a good multivitamin supplement like HealthOK that contains more than twenty necessary vitamins and minerals that your body requires. A healthier version of yourself is just a few steps away so make positive changes in your dietary habits and you’ll find your overall health improving with time.