
The Health Benefits Of Antioxidant Fruits
It has been proved beyond doubt that antioxidant
fruits are beneficial to health and well-being.
However all antioxidant fruits do not provide the
same level of health benefits. It could be said that
some antioxidant fruits are more equal than others.
They have a higher percentage of antioxidants
and offer more health benefits than some of the
other fruits. Some fruits may offer you nutrients
along with antioxidant properties, while other fruit
may have only vitamins.
The human body is designed to derive its energy
requirements by utilizing oxygen as well as
nutrients as fuel. However oxygen, though it does
provide a lot of benefits and has a lot of positive
effects, could possibly be accompanied by a
negative ripple effect. When oxygen is processed
in the body by a process known as oxidation, there
is a simultaneous production of oxygen byproducts known as free radicals. The highly reactive free
radicals may cause a certain amount of damage to cells. The antioxidant substances that are present in
antioxidant fruits work by neutralizing these free radicals. In this process they are prevented from
causing any damage.
The Benefits of Antioxidant Fruits
With so much being said in recent times about antioxidants and health benefits they provide people are
becoming more and more aware of this radical substance. By now everybody knows that citrus fruits are
rich in Vitamin C and apples have a high beta-carotene content. A daily diet that focuses on a high
consumption of antioxidants helps give the body a stronger defense mechanism in its fight against free
radicals and consequently oxidative stress, which is damage that free radicals cause. Many scientists
have linked the process of oxidative stress to the development of degenerative and chronic diseases
including cancer and heart disease.
Including cereals, vegetables and fruit in your diet give you additional benefits that you would not get if
you took antioxidant supplements. Scientists suspect that this could be due to the fact that the
consumption of antioxidant fruits in the form of food probably creates a combination of antioxidant
substances that are lesser known but just as potent. These antioxidant combinations would probably
have an effect that was far greater than that provided by any individual antioxidant supplement or any
single nutrient.
In one of the recent Journal of Nutrition issues, the analysis of the antioxidant content of many different
antioxidant fruits was published. According to the charts, strawberries, sour cherries, blue berries,
crowberries, black currants, raspberries and black
berries had the highest antioxidant content of all
fruit in the berry family. Other important antioxi-
dant fruits include grapefruit, plum, pomegranates,
kiwi, lemon, orange, grape, dates, pineapple and
Clementine. Broad beans were first in the list in the
legume category, whereas walnuts occupied first
place in the nuts category and sunflower seeds
were second. Other foods that are rich in antiox-
idants include barley, red beets, kale, corn, red
cabbage, ginger, chili pepper and millet.
Oxygen is one of the essential elements that are
needed by all the members who belong to the
animal kingdom. Oxygen is an element that is
present in the air and is responsible for triggering
the burning of fat and glucose in order to provide
the body with its necessary supply of energy and
heat. However essential it may be, oxygen unfortunately also has some effects that are negative.
During the oxidation process, free radicals, which are highly reactive byproducts, are produced. When
other molecules interact with these free radicals they themselves get turned into free radicals and their
normal functioning gets disrupted. Eventually this could lead to massive tissue damage and cell
destruction. It could even lead to the incidence of degenerative diseases including rheumatoid arthritis,
Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, artherosclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and heart disease.
Fortunately for us the human body is naturally equipped with defenses that work to prevent the harmful
effects of these free radical compounds. Antioxidants are chemical substances that are naturally present
in vegetables as well as fruit. These antioxidants hunt down free radicals and act on them. This causes
the free radicals to get neutralized and stops their rampage and the damage they do to the body’s
healthy cells, thus preventing or decreasing the incidence of disease.
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