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| Health Info
» Antioxidants |
WHAT IS
AN ANTIOXIDANT?
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Antioxidants are nutrients
that help to protect your
body from the damage caused
by free radicals - the toxic
molecules that play a role
in the development of
diseases from cataracts to
heart disease, from
arthritis to cancer. While
our bodies produce some of
these free radicals as the
"garbage" from some its
natural processes, we are
now exposed to more and more
free radicals from our
environment than ever
before.
The chemical pollution of
our air and water now leave
us exposed to very powerful
free radicals that we have
never been exposed to in the
past. In combination with
the nutrient depletion of
our foods from modern
chemical agriculture, we now
also get less of the
important nutrients from it
that would normally help our
immune systems fight these
chemical invaders. This is
why many nutritional doctors
recommend their patients
take supplements of
antioxidants.
HOW DO ANTIOXIDANTS PROTECT
MY CELLS?
When a free radical enters
your body, it is attracted
to the cells that make up
the different tissues of it
just like a magnet to metal.
It then bonds to parts of
the cell, which causes it to
deteriorate in a way similar
to that which oxygen causes
metal to rust. If the cell
gets damaged enough, it
dies. Worse yet, if the cell
DNA is damaged and then the
cell reproduces, it
reproduces abnormally as a
result. When this happens to
our skin, we get wrinkles;
when it happens to our
oxygen carrying blood
vessels, we get hardening of
the arteries; when it
happens to our joints, we
get arthritis; in some
people - if it happens
enough - they may even get
cancer.
Antioxidants work by bonding
with the free radical before
it can bond to the cells of
your body, thus neutralizing
it. This now harmless
substance is then
deconstructed or merely
excreted.
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