You might have heard about antioxidants. However, do you know what are they? Nutritionists have been elaborating a lot about the health benefits of antioxidant-rich foods. You know antioxidant is good for your health. But do you know for what reasons they are good for your health? Let us know how antioxidants work in bodies?
Necessity Of Antioxidants For Your Health
What antioxidants are?
Antioxidants are beneficial properties that work against or fight oxidants in the human body. It is essential to understand how oxidants can be harmful to the human body before you get to know the role of antioxidants.
What are oxidants or free radicals?
Oxygen is responsible for the metabolic process in human bodies. We know oxygen is important for the existence of life on this Earth. However, oxygen is an extremely reactive molecule that generates harmful reactive species known as free radicals or oxidants when metabolized.
Oxidants are toxic particles within cells. They are generated by nature when the body breaks food into particles. However, free radicals can form if you are exposed too much to environmental factors such as pesticides, pollution, tobacco, and solar radiation and so on.
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How oxidants affect your body?
There is a difference between free radicals and typical molecules. This is because free radicals hold odd electrons. On the other hand, typical molecules hold paired electrons. The odd electrons make oxidants highly reactive and unstable
Therefore, free radicals assail sound molecules so as to steal electrons to get stable. This procedure is known as oxidation. The health damage triggered by the oxidation is called oxidative stress. Oxidants can steal electrons from different types of molecules. However, in the process, they injure DNA, lipids, and proteins.
The cleaning of electrons forms new oxidants and starts a chain reaction of oxidant formation that finally destroys healthy organisms. Oxidants result in aging, cardiovascular disease, tissue damage, and a few kinds of cancer. Free radicals even trigger the chances of neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
How antioxidants counteract free radicals
Antioxidants fight free radicals and eliminate them as well. They do this in two ways. A few antioxidant enzymes like Superoxide dismutase decompose the oxidant molecule.
On the other hand, Vitamin C is one of many antioxidants which counteract free radicals by offering the absent electron necessary to form a pair. Thus it prevents the cleaning activity of oxidants and breaks the chain reaction formation of destructive new particles.
You can benefit from antioxidants since they boost your immune system that increases your ability to combat diseases, fungal and parasitic infections.
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Sources of antioxidants
A few antioxidants are generated by nature in your body. Superoxide dismutase, Catalase, and Glutathione are the most common natural antioxidants. These substances neutralize and eliminate free radicals effectively
However, our internal antioxidant systems tend to stop working when we age. Therefore, it is better to depend on external sources of antioxidants to get the optimum health benefits.
Conclusion
With regard to this, if you add cinnamon to your diet, you can have good health benefits. However, it is better to take the best cinnamon supplement. This is because this does not contain harmful toxins. Apart from this, you can take fresh vegetables and fruits to your meal.
