Nutrition Nugget: Antioxidants
Bite-Size Reads for Your Health and Your Waistline
How many times have we heard this word? Commercials, food labels, podcasts, health-nut friends and certainly at the health food store too. But does anyone really know what they are?! This is one of those words that everyone uses and we sort of gloss over it or pretend we know what it means. Let’s outsmart your health-nut friend, clear up the confusion and give you a little fodder for your next trivia night.
Antioxidants are compounds found both in the body and in food. These compounds prevent damage to cells caused by free radicals. Don’t you hate when a definition creates more questions than it answers?! Me too. Let’s take a step back to understand free radicals.
Put on your 7th grade science hat and go with me. Free radicals are molecules with an unpaired electron, which causes them to be imbalanced. To fix this, those molecules steal an electron from another molecule, causing a snowball effect. When free radicals accumulate in the body they create oxidative stress, or excessive oxidation in the body. What’s oxidation? The same process that turns cut apples brown when they are exposed to…oxygen. Oxidative stress has the same effect inside our bodies; it is our internal systems browning like an old apple. This causes inflammation, which is the underlying source of all symptoms, illness and disease. After comparing our bodies to a rotting fruit, I think it’s obvious this is something worthy of our attention!
Lucky for us, antioxidants are the solution to our browning-apple-insides! How do we get them? Antioxidants are found naturally in our body and we can add to the body’s own supply by eating fruits and vegetables and taking supplements. Why do we need to add to the body’s own supply? Free radicals abound! They are in the air we breathe, toxins we ingest, stuff we put on our bodies, are even released when we exercise(!) and more. When it comes to free radicals in the body, relying solely on our bodies’ own mechanisms is equivalent to throwing a thimble of water on a house fire. If we’re going to address this house fire happening in our bodies, we need a firehose (meaning we need supplementation)!
Finding the right supplements can be a daunting task! Many people wonder if it’s best to get the ones with a higher ORAC value. The ORAC (oxygen radical absorption capacity) value is the strength of the antioxidant. Sure you could choose the one with the highest ORAC value but this may not be your best bet. I like to think of antioxidants as locks and keys. It would be silly to think one key can open every lock on the planet (even if it’s extra strong!). We need a variety of antioxidants to support our optimal health.
Start by eating the rainbow! Since antioxidants naturally occur in foods, incorporate a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet and find support with supplementation. There are so many supplements available, but some of my favorites include astaxanthin, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, acai, black cumin seed extra, resveratrol, and OPCs. Implement these tips to have your very own firehose of antioxidants to fight that house fire of free radicals within.
