How antioxidants work
Why are the antioxidants in fruits and vegetables so important? They're kind of like a "cleaning crew" that hauls away the junk your cells leave behind:

• Every cell in your body has a job.
  They work 24 hours a day building and repairing your bones, muscles, skin, and other body parts.
• As your cells do their job, they create byproducts.
  Some of these molecules are good. But some can build up like trash around a construction site.
• One type of trash is a free radical.
  Every day, your body produces thousands of these highly reactive, oxygen-powered molecules. You're also exposed to them through environmental factors like cigarette smoke, UV radiation from the sun, and not eating right. What makes free radicals so harmful is that they don't just build up. They actually attach themselves to other cells and cause damage.
• Your body also produces antioxidants to keep things under control. Antioxidants make the free radicals less reactive and, therefore, less damaging. They also clear away some of the trash.
• Antioxidants in certain foods —
  mainly plant products like fruits and vegetables — can boost your body's "cleaning crew." Research shows that eating lots of antioxidants may reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease, help control diabetes, and even slow the physical and mental effects of aging.

Top 20 food sources of antioxidants

• Small red bean (dried)
• Wild blueberry
• Red kidney bean (dried)
• Pinto bean
• Blueberry (cultivated)
• Cranberry
• Artichoke (cooked)
• Blackberry
• Dried Prune
• Raspberry
• Strawberry
• Red Delicious apple
• Granny Smith apple
• Pecan
• Sweet cherry
• Black plum
• Russet potato (cooked)
• Black bean (dried)
• Plum
• Gala apple

Source: www.web.md

Back to top