As researchers continue to study the profound impact our diets can have on our overall health, they uncover more and more evidence regarding the positive role of antioxidants in preventing everything from heart disease to cancer. Antioxidants have also been shown to greatly hinder the aging process and vastly improve immunity. The best news of all, however, is that natural antioxidants can be found in the foods we eat; the process of increasing our natural antioxidants can be as simple as making appropriate choices when food shopping.
When looking for those foods high in natural antioxidants, head straight for the produce section of your supermarket or directly to a nearby farmers market. Particular fruits and vegetables have been shown to deliver the highest levels of natural antioxidants. But it’s not as simple as picking up the nearest apple. Do your research in order to learn what specific fruits and vegetable will give you what you need so that you can be mindful of you choices.
When it comes to picking vegetables high in natural antioxidants think green. Leafy, dark green vegetables tend to pack a punch when it comes to natural antioxidants. Veggies such as spinach and kale are terrific sources of natural antioxidants; as are carrots, cabbage, onions, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower.
When choosing fruits for their natural antioxidants, stick with citrus fruits with high levels of Vitamin C. Berries of any kind are also wonderful sources of natural antioxidants. Blueberries have recently received quite a bit of attention regarding their ability to fight cancer.
This is only a short sampling of those foods that contain healthy levels of natural antioxidants. Be your own advocate and learn about all the foods that will have the most positive impact on your health and get down to integrating them into your daily life. Learning new recipes and experimenting with different ways to prepare these important foods will help you adopt new habits. And if all those fruits and vegetables are difficult to get down, reward yourself with some red wine and dark chocolate – both of which deliver a significant amount of natural antioxidants! Wordpress Autoblogging Software

I didn’t know anything about antioxidant’s (except that they were good for me)UNTIL,…my son became ill with a (un-curable) health condition.

Then my wife attended American Medical Association certified Continuing Education classes for doctors, nurses, etc. (AMA CE) and learned the need for antioxidants, the various strengths of antioxidants, and the marketing tricks being done with antioxidants – most of which the public is completely unaware of.

Here’s some of what she learned as we found complete recovery for our son’s health challenge,…via the power of antioxidants in nature (instead of using symptom suppressing toxic drugs that often have significant negative side effects).

1. The marketing label you see in the health food store regarding antioxidant (ORAC=Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity) can be mis-leading – often is.

2. Over 90 products from the shelves have been analyzed and here’s what they found:

A. 3 products touting “antioxidant” power actually had a pro-oxidizing effect — that means they acted the opposite of how they were advertised.

B. 1800 units of lab tested ORAC value was the average of the other 87 products. There was no industry test for checking “fat soluble” antioxidant capacity (only the water soluble capacity was being addressed).

C. The highest test results showed an ORAC (water soluble) capacity of just over 5,000 units of protection per gram.

What’s actually available to the informed, is antioxidants from natural food that provide over 17,000 Units of Protection per gram. That’s nearly 10 times the protection of the average product on the market and almost 3x the level of protection of the most potent antioxidant currently available on the health food shelves.

On item 1 above. Here’s how some marketers mislead with their ORAC labels.

They state the bottles entire ORAC level of protection, versus comparing units of antioxidant protection per gram or per equal serving.

So,…now you understand ORAC and the value of comparing gram to gram when you buy.

If you want to learn more, including WHY antioxidant protection is EXTREMELY Important – according to AMA CE classes we learned from…

You can learn our son’s real life, short story and learn that DEET chemicals have been found in Peguins (floated in the air to the poles via the jetstream they expect) – you think there may be toxicity around you? How about the 100 cites tested – all positive for antibiotics in their drinking water — do you understand the vast oxidative stress this puts on our bodies?

You need to understand antioxidants to enjoy top notch quality of life in today’s world. According to AMA certified CE, Oxidative stress IS THE ROOT CAUSE of All Illnesses (excluding trauma and genetic issues). Mark Ostrye has been writing on health and wellness since his son recovered from a (un-curable) condition about a year ago. You can visit his informative lens site and see newsletter topics and helpful science links – plus a short, very informative 3 minute video (You will also find a link to his Free Newsletter Offer) at:http://www.squidoo.com/antiagingnowsmall business web site design

Phytonutrients are powerful and healthy substances to include in your diet.They are plant compounds with health-promoting qualities and can also be found in liquid vitamin supplements.Their importance in your health regimen is unbelievably important!

Fruits and vegetables that are high in carotenoids appear to protect humans against certain cancers, heart disease and age related macular degeneration. Elderly men whose intake of dark green and deep yellow vegetable put them in the highest quartile for consumption of these vegetables had about a 46% decrease in risk of heart disease relative to men who ranked in the lowest quartile.While these phytonutrients aren’t essential by traditional definitions, they apparently reduce risks of diseases of aging. This can reduce cardiovascular disease risk by interfering with the clumping of blood plateletsthe first stagein clot formation. Lycopene from tomatoes can also be a preventive measure in regards to your health. Lycopene,for example,from tomatoes is in clinical trials for cardiovascular diseases and prostate cancer. A host of fresh fruits, especially berries

are rich in disease-fighting phytochemicals. Serious diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stomach ulcers. More than 80% of all chronic disease is preventable, but only if you know how.

If you want to accelerate your aging process, and shorten your life, the way to do that is to do what most Americans are doing already: avoid physical exercise, eat a large percentage of your diet from fast foods and junk foods, consume large quantities of white flour and refined white sugar, eat brand-name groceries sold in beautiful boxes and made with dirt-cheap ingredients that lack any nutritional content whatsoever, and of course, avoid supplementing with super foods and other nutritional supplements. Protein and carbohydrates are the chief components of nutrition. These protective plant compounds are becoming an emerging area of health and nutrition, with new research reported almost daily. Scientists are finding that foods once considered to be low in nutritional value are actually packed with powerful antioxidants. We believe phytonutrients are an inexpensive and convenient way to get the nutritional benefits of eating fresh fruits and vegetables — and to get these benefits each and every day. Still,a true nutritional role for phytochemicals is becoming more probable every day as researchers uncover more and more benefits. Research has brought the plant-disease connection to the attention of the world.

For those of you in my situation, we are probably not consuming the necessary dosage of vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to stay healthy, unless we are taking some form of vitamin supplement. Libraries of information exist about vitamins, but phytonutrients are newcomers to the health-food table. Dietary fat is necessary for absorption of vitamins, nutrients and phytochemicals from fruits and vegetables. A fascinating new study published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that dietary fat is necessary for the absorption of nutrients from fruits and vegetables. However, phytonutrients go beyond vitamins and minerals they are more obscure, are present in much smaller amounts and usually have profound effects on our health. Today, numerous researchers worldwide are endeavoring to investigate and confirm possible functional properties in foods, phytonutrient or otherwise, beyond the more familiar vitamins and minerals, that could be efficient in preventing the common diseases of aging such as macular degeneration, heart disease, atherosclerosis, diabetes, dementia, and cancer. Even if you are eating the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables, you’re STILL not getting all of the phytonutrients and vitamins your body MUST have to function properly. RELATED ARTICLE: Tracing Elements and Vitamins A Chinese document dating back 5,000 years described goiter–an enlarged thyroid gland–and recommended that afflicted people eat seaweed and burnt sponge–both good sources of iodine. In the 20’s & 30’s,11 of the 15 vitamins were discovered. Some vitamins, such as vitamin C, are antioxidants in their own right.

Antioxidant phytos can interfere with the damaging effects of LDL cholesterol on arteries. Antioxidant phytos, especially beta carotene, can block this process and thus prevent cardiovascular disease. Antioxidants also help to prevent damage by carcinogens, such as ultraviolet radiation, tobacco smoke, and environmental pollutants. Cellular damage can be prevented when antioxidants attack the carcinogens and render them useless. One of the most important roles of phytos is acting as antioxidants. Your body needs more antioxidant police officers as you get older, since the body’s ability to repair itself diminishes with age. There are hundreds, if not thousands of them, and they have effects such as antioxidants, boosting the immune system, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, and cellular repair. In numbers of studies, these antioxidant pigments have been found to reduce heart disease, cancer, and other ailments that are the result of oxidative damage. Chuck Arnone strives to provide correct information when it comes to your health issues and guide you to reliable products. keyword software

Wouldn’t we all like to age gracefully (if at all for that matter!) and ward off the wrinkly signs and ill symptoms for as long as possible. Keys to longevity may be more accessible than we think, and it appears our diets play a critical role. Antioxidants are the knights in shining armor that subjugate the attack of free radicals in the body, the hazardous molecules that damage cells and procure aging and disease. Though antioxidants are produced naturally in the body, these decline with age, hence an increasing need to acquire them from the foods in our diet. Before examining antioxidants more closely, it is important to take a look at the free radicals they serve to neutralize. Free Radicals Free radicals are created as by-products in our use of oxygen during metabolism such as the burning of food for energy. They are essentially oxidant molecules that are missing an electron and seek to restore themselves by targeting nearby cells in an attempt to recover this electron, potentially harming enzymes, DNA, proteins and cell membranes in the process. This damage can mutate cells and alter cell function, increasing the risk of numerous diseases and chronic conditions including arthritis, diabetes, cataracts, cancer, heart disease and stroke. Free radical damage is implicated in the onset of aging and its degenerative symptoms and diseases. As well as generated within the body, free radicals come from environmental sources such as pollution, radiation, unhealthy foods, bacteria, viruses, cigarette smoke and UV light. Antioxidants Antioxidants serve to mitigate the harmful effect of free radicals by giving up an electron and stabilizing them in the process. Although we produce many of our own antioxidants within the body, food provides an essential source for these key players of our defense system. Vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients all have antioxidant properties. The most common examples include vitamins A, C and E, selenium and zinc, carotenoids, flavonoids, co-enzyme Q10, alpha-lipoic acid and glutathione. As there are many different types of free radicals in the body a variety of antioxidants are required to protect against them. Antioxidants function best as a team, with each other and other nutrients and phytochemicals, which is why incorporating a wide range of plant foods into your diet is recommended. Phytochemical groups such as flavonoids and carotenoids correspond to the colour, taste and smell attributes of plants, hence eating a rainbow array of vegetables and fruits can offer a diverse selection of these potent antioxidants. Antioxidant Rich Foods Foods especially high in antioxidants include berries, plums, pomegranates, oranges, spinach, green tea, avocado, kale, broccoli, peas, onions, grapes and pure chocolate. Scientists at the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) have developed a rating scale that measures the total antioxidant capacity of a given food. This is known as the ORAC score (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). Of 40 common fruits and vegetables measured by the USDA, top ranking scores were those of prunes(5770), raisins (2830), blueberries (2400 – highest of all fresh foods with other berries close behind), kale (1770), spinach (1260), Brussels sprouts (980), plums (949), alfalfa sprouts (930), broccoli florets (890), beetroots (840), oranges (750 ), red peppers (710 ) and red grapes (739). Pure cocoa surpasses all these foods with a whopping score of 26,00 units, more than 10 times the prestigious blueberry (though one is likely to eat far less in quantity). The extraordinary goji berry from Tibet also has outstanding antioxidant capacity with a score of 18,500 units; hardly surprising as they contain 500 times more vitamin C than oranges and even more beta-carotene than carrots! According to studies on animals and human blood at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts in Boston, high-ORAC foods may slow aging processes in the body and brain. Results found that high ORAC foods such as blueberries and spinach could increase the antioxidant power of human blood by 10-25%, prevent loss of long-term memory and learning ability in middle-aged rats, and protect rat blood vessels against oxygen damage. Antioxidants and Aging As we age, free radical levels rise and yet the body falls short in producing necessary amounts of antioxidants to meet this challenge. For example, cells generate more of the oxidants hydrogen peroxide and superoxide, yet levels of the necessary antioxidant glutathione required to neutralise these decline. The Free Radical Theory of Aging, first proposed by Harman in 1954, is supported by cross-species examination of animals with regard to life span, free radical damage and antioxidant defence. For example, the white-footed mouse lives about twice as long as the house mouse (8 versus 4 years), and is found to generate less oxidants and have higher levels of antioxidants. As Beckman and Ames write in The Free Radical Theory of Ageing Matures (1998), ‘Together, interspecies comparisons of oxidative damage, antioxidant defences, and oxidant generation provide some of the most compelling evidence that oxidants are one of the most significant determinants of life span.’ Very recent evidence comes from a study on dogs at the University of Toronto by Dr. Dwight Tapp and colleagues who found that ‘old dogs that were on an antioxidant diet performed better on a variety of cognitive tests than dogs that were not on the diet. In fact, the dogs eating antioxidant-fortified foods performed as well as young animals’. Additional research by Dr. Rabinovitch and his team, studying aging at the University of Washington, Seattle, found that mice engineered to produce high levels of an antioxidant enzyme (catalase) lived 20 per cent longer and had less heart and other age-related diseases than controls. In light of the role free radicals play in the onset of aging and disease, it is important to ensure our diets include a rich and diverse supply of antioxidants. These protective agents can be found abundantly in vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds and are particularly high in superfoods. Tenerife car rental