|
 |
|
|
Food vs nutrients for sources of antioxidants.
By Lynda Appell
The question or topic is what is the best way to obtain anti oxidants for one's health. However perhaps the first inquiry should be what is an anti oxidant. For that matter what is the definition of an oxidant. Obviously an anti oxidant is something that is antagonistic to an oxidant. So why should there be something against oxidants. What is so bad about them. What is the reason they are considered so harmful that there should be substances used to fight them? In order to even begin to understand how oxidants are so dangerous one must know that basically every life form is either composed of one or many cells. One doesn't need to be familiar with the diferent cellular parts to realize how harmful free radicals can be. What is of importance is understanding the concept of oxidation. This proocess of cell damage is similar to how oxygen causes rust on certain metals, namely iron and steel. What is important to be aware of that oxidation is caused by free radicals. These free radicals are formed naturally in everyone's body without exception. Anti oxidant slow them down but they are never totally eliminated. What essentially happens is for an atom to be complete it needs eight electrons. When there are seven electrons the atom looks for that extra electron to be complete. The problem is once it obtains that eighth electron from the other atom, that atom is now left with seven electron. It now essentially becomes a free radical and looks for that missing electron. So a chain reaction is begun. In other words one free radical cell creates more since each of these cell's atoms are seeking the missing electron. Thereby causing seven electrons where there should be eight. The searching for that eighth missing electron creates a vicious cycle since the taking away of that one electron forces that atom to search for its electron. For the record basically an atom contains a nucleas at its core and protons with positive charges and electrons with negative charges circuling around the nucleus. Free radicals are what is known as a threshhold poison. That is there is a safe and even necessary quanity that produce healthful results. For example the ones produced by one's immune system help fight bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. Others make necessary hormones and make enzymes do their work. We couldn't live without some free radicals since they are involved in the very production of energy to help us live. Without energy we would be literally completely listless. The free radicals help the red blood cells supply us with the energy we need to live. I am not referring to being so energied one could run the marathon. I am referring to the ordinary level of energy to get through daily life under ordinary circumstances. I wrote earlier that free radicals are threshhold poisons. What I mean by this is a certain amount is essential but more than that can be dangerous. A good analogy is a medication. Many medications are very helpful in the correct dosage. If one takes a larger dose than recommended than there could be serious consequences and even can be fatal. Taking too much of a medicine is known as an overdose. Free radicals can alter the cell structure and thereby the result could very possibly be changes in the proteins in the cellular structure. The immune system can easily mistake this changed cell as something foreign and destroy it. Some cancers can be caused this way. Of course this is not the only cause of malignancies. On the other hand it is a major causation. Free radicals can be the source of fluid in the cells and therefore a reason for the aging process. Some sources of free radicals are too much sun exposure, pollutants, alcohol, smoking, car exhaust fumes and many other environmental, life style causes, too numerous to mention. To the writer here the question of the best way to obtain antioxidants can be two different questions. One is if it better to get them eating from food or is it more effective to ingest them from pills, capsules, caplets etc. Or what foods, herbs, other nutrients are the greatest sources? I will try to write on both sets of questions. Many foods with the virtual exception of junk of empty calories contain nutrients. However not every one of these nutrients are anti-oxidants. Plus some of these nutricious parts of various foods, mostly fruits and vegetables are only anti-oxidants in certain high enough doses. If one wanted to get the complete benefit of these anti-oxidants one would need to be ingesting enormous quanities. For example a medium sized orange contains vitamin C. However C is only an anti-oxidant at at least 500 mgs . This means one be eating close to seventy oranges to get even the minimum anti-oxidant effect. I don't know you but I strongly suspect I'd get quite a stomach upset if I ate that many. I strongly suspect most people would too. The problem is many vitamins and minerals are only anti-oxidants in large quanities. Please note while the Recommended Daily Allowances are only for preventing certain diseases, one can ingest too much of a nutrient too. The RDAs are not the optimum doses for anti-oxidant
health benefits. Conversely it isn't skies the limit either. Overdoses of some vitamins and minerals can cause quite bothersome and even dangerous side effects. Please note the American Institute of Cancer Research recommends food as sources of anti-oxidant. Their opinion is eating the whole food one gets all the nutrients found in that food source. The AICR is a part of the World Cancer Research fund and is a Better Business Bureau accepted charity. Please read above and below for counterarguements to the AICR's recommendation. This organization deals exclusively with cancer and diet. Conversely there's the claim that if you eat the food you are getting the entire nutritious profile of that food. This being the case I wonder if you take an herbal that can be harmful if it contains anti-oxidants, can they override the harm. Of course I'm not including extremely dangerous herbs such as Aconite (aka Monkshood, Wolfsbane) , Arnica or . These plants can be instantly fatal. For instance one teaspoon of Aconite can kill a person weighing up to two hundred pounds. One toxic herb as opposed to the ones mentioned earlier is Comfrey. Comfrey can cause liver damage. However one of its constituents is an anti-oxidant, zinc. Can this mineral override the dangerous chemicals found in the botanical? The question is do anti-oxidants conteract other parts of the plant either for bad or for good? Still a different counterarguement for not obtaining anti-oxidants from food is how fruits and vegetables are grown. WIth constant depletion of the soil, the reality of fruits and vegetables losing their nutrients the more they are on the grocery and supermarket shelves, there is far from any guarantees that fruit or vegetable's nutrients are all there. In other words the fresher the produce, the more nutricious, including anti-oxidant. However with foods being shipped from literally worldwide, by the time it gets to the shelves, who knows how nourishing it is. There really is something to buying local when it comes to the foods one eats.
So in summary, getting anti-oxidents by eating food one gets the entire food and the sum total of its nutrients. Conversely with the very real possiblity of poor growing and cultivation conditions, plus the fact produce usually loses its anti-oxidant quanity and potency the longer its on the grocery, supermarket shelves. In my studied opinion the best way to secure anti-oxidants from eating foods is to purchase as much as possible locally. This could mean Farmer's Market's if possible. If buying from a corner store, grocery, supermarket to make absolutely certain the product is packaged well. Last but certainly not least be purchasing foods that are devoid of artifical anything. There is some positives in free radicals. In minute enough qualities they can successfully combat bacteria and viruses. Quite unfortunately in large enough quantities they can contribute to some forms of arthritis, especially osteoarthritis, rhematoid arthritis, lupus, cancer, diabetes, COPD, Downes syndrome, various major eye disorders and even aging itself. Some major antioxidants are Vitamin A, Beta Carotene C( Ascorbic acid) E, (Trochopherals) Selenium, Zinc, Melatonin, Grape Seed extract, Pine Bark and more.
Studies show that two grams of vitamin C daily can help prevent heart attacks, strokes and cateracts. Plus aging or at least the physiology of it can be slowed down. Anti-oxidants can be vitamins, mineras, enzymes, herbals and other nutrients. Grape Seed and Pine Bark are known as Pycnogenol. They are known as oligomeric proantyhocyanadinds too. Some research show Grape seed and pine bark may be up to 50 times more potent anti-oxidants than vitamin C and E. Other sources are Green tea, melatonin, selenium, a mineral, superoxidase dismutase, an enzyme, beta caratene, a form of vitamin A. These are the superstars of anti-oxidants. The measurement of how much antioxidant is in a nutrition source is from a team of medicla researchers from Tufts University in Boston Massachusetts. Its officially known as the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity. It tests for both how much antioxidant is in the nutrient and equally important how much one's body can obtain. The higher the score the better overall the antioxidant for both quantity and capacity for use. |
|
 |
|
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
The copyright for this content entitled "Food vs nutrients for sources of antioxidants." has been specified by the contributor as:
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0
Details 
This content may be copied and distributed (but not modified), as long as the original author is acknowledged with a link back to the content page.
If you use this content according to the license specified, you must link to the following URL:
http://mugwort.qondio.com/
|
|
|
This intel was contributed by mugwort
|
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
