Antioxidants: How Can They Lift Your Health

2 mins to read

What's the juice on antioxidants and how can they lift your health? Natural medicine expert Siobhan Jordan gets back to basics.

Everyday health

From green tea to white tea, dark chocolate to red wine, and from blueberries to goji berries – it's easy to feel a little bombarded over the ‘latest and greatest' in antioxidants. Not to mention a tad confused.

What you need to know

Antioxidants (AOs) are substances that protect the body from free radical (FR) damage. FRs are highly reactive molecules that damage body tissues.

These come from a number of sources, including our body's own biological processes that occur when we eat and exercise.

There are also external sources of FRs such as cigarette smoke, environmental pollutants and chemicals such as pesticides and preservatives.

The apple example

Consider what happens when you slice an apple. If you leave this sliced open, the exposed flesh soon goes brown. This process is called ‘oxidation', and helps demonstrate the power of FRs.

Squirt a little lemon juice on the apple and this browning process occurs much more slowly or not at all. This is the impact of the lemon juice, or more specifically, the antioxidants in the lemon juice. This same process happens in your body.

You've heard the expression that your body is a temple, now think of it as a slice of apple!

Prevention and protection

FR or oxidative damage plays a role in the development of many health problems including heart disease, cancer and degenerative conditions.

AOs may play a preventative role in these conditions and also play a role in slowing down the ageing process.

Finding the right antioxidant for you

Because there are so many different AOs (including vitamins C and E, the minerals zinc and selenium, and the flavonoids in berries), the best approach is to take in a broad range of AOs.

Vitamin C

Capsicum
Citrus fruits
Blackcurrants
Strawberries

Vitamin E

Cold pressed vegetable oils eg. olive, wheat germ
Nuts
Whole grains
Green leafy vegetables

Selenium

Brazil nuts
Garlic
Seafood
Organ meats

Coenzyme CoQ10 (CoQ10)

Fish
Meat
Broccoli
Nuts

Beta-carotene

Carrots
Pumkin
Sweet potato
Spinach

Flavonoids*

Anthocyanins

Blackberries
Blueberries
Red grapes
Strawberries
Teas - especially green and white
Dark chocolate
Apples
Red wine

Flavonols

Kale
Broccoli
Apples
Berries

* Flavonoids are a large family of compounds that share a common chemical structure. The above are just a few examples of a few of the different flavonoids.

A day in the life of a great anti-oxidant mix

Breakfast

Whole grain cereal with plain yoghurt and mixed berries and ground nuts and seeds

Morning tea

A cup of green tea

Lunch

Italian lentil soup with capsicum, carrots and broccoli and whole grain bread

Afternoon tea

An apple and a palm-sized serve of Brazil nuts and cup of white tea

Dinner

Grilled chicken or fish and a salad with English spinach and roast pumpkin served with a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice. Polished off with a small piece of dark chocolate

References available on request