What are Anti Oxidants and why they are necessary for our body.

 Today by the advancement of science and specifically health sciences we got to know that our body produces free radicals which can be harmful in many ways and can contribute in major issues if not treated . Researches show that anti oxidants are the remedy of these minute issues which turns to become major concerns.

What are Anti Oxidants?

Anti Oxidants are the substances that protect our cell from free radicals. 

Free radicals can become major issue that needs to be addressed immediately by our body, therefore anti oxidants are necessary to neutralize their effect.

 What are Free Radicals? 

Free radicals are the waste products of all the processes that take place inside a cell.

 To explain in a better way imagine that these free radicals are like the waste material of a fermenter. The waste material that evaporate during the fermentation in a factory, or any gases that are released in the process of making a product ,these gases can be said as radicals.

 Thousands of processes takes place in our body which create energy and do metabolism to maintain our system. During these process some waste material is produced, these are called radicals. 

Free radicals are also formed from our unhealthy life style like smoking, drinking alcohol, living in air populated cities.

Free radicals damage the cell structure, causing changes in genetic material. These extract the ions from the structure of DNA and other processes which results in negative changes in our system. Therefore these radicals need to be addressed before they do some serious damage to majority of cells in our body.

To clean up this waste material our body needs anti oxidants. Lots of researches have taken place to find a permanent source of anti oxidants that can counter the effect of all types of radicals but that is not yet possible. Different process releases different types of radicals therefore different types of anti oxidants are required by our body.

Why are Anti Oxidants necessary?

Anti Oxidants are one of the most important minerals that are required by our body or these free radicals can cause sever damages to our heart, lungs, blood vessels, cell structure and even DNA.

Our body also has a natural defensive system, immunity system, that is made up of white blood cells, these help to counter the effect of free radicals but they alone are not enough. Therefore our body extract anti oxidants from our food to help our immunity system to get rid of these wondering radicals. 

Anti Oxidants provide electrons to these radicals neutralizing them and making them harmless to our body. But themselves doesn't reduce the electrons. These anti oxidants work just like we water fire from hose. 

Anti Oxidants also help in repairing the damages done by free radicals by providing the required ions, electrons and required configuration to our cells and genetic material.

What are the benefits of Anti Oxidants?

Anti Oxidants have many benefits apart from addressing the free radicals issue. 

Anti Oxidants are useful for following purposes

-They maintain our eye health

-Anti Oxidants help in brain functions

-These also help in reducing inflammation in our digestive track

-These are also required for the basic cell structure stabilizing.

-Anti Oxidants are useful for the cognitive development in our brain

-These help in reducing the oxidation stress in our body that happens from excessive free radicals

Therefore for it is necessary to have some source of Anti Oxidants for our body through food or supplements. Otherwise it can cause sever issues and genetic issues.

How we get Anti Oxidants?

There are three best anti oxidants, they are vitamins C,E and beta-carotene. These are mostly found in citrus foods like lemons, oranges, apples etc. The foods that are bright in color have ample amount of anti oxidants and therefore should be consumed everyday.

Some people find supplements that support the requirements of anti oxidants in our body. But the issue is free radicals are formed from may different processes, therefore they have different ions, hence they require different types of anti oxidants to counter their effect. But in supplements there are a specific type of anti oxidants available. And they have no evidence that whether these will become active and work efficiently or not.

However the anti oxidants found in fruits and vegetables have many other substances that combine with these anti oxidants and make them active to efficiently counter the free radicals. These fruits also have many varieties of anti oxidants and are not just stick to one type or few types. So these different types can address different types of free radicals and can be helpful in other processes.

Following are the fruits that have ample amount of anti oxidants

Blue berries

Strawberries

Cherries

Lemon

Orange

Kiwi

Pineapple

Mangoes

Grapes

Pomegranate

Vegetables that are rich in anti oxidants are 

Kale

Spinach

Sweet potatoes

Broccoli

Carrots

Brussels sprouts

Red and yellow peppers

Tomatoes (especially when cooked)

Beet greens

Cabbage

Bitter Gourd

Eggplant

Beet root

If you add these vegetables and fruits in your diet, these can help boost your anti oxidative defense system and promote overall mental and genetic health.

So hope that you are now aware how important anti oxidants are for our body and overall health. I have always insisted to keep fresh fruits and vegetables in you diet, that is only how you will live longer and disease free.