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MoonDragon's Health & Wellness
Nutrition Basics: Antioxidants Introduction


"For Informational Use Only"
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There is a group of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes called antioxidants that help to protect the body from the formation of free radicals. Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms that can cause damage to cells, impairing the immune system and leading to infections and various degenerative diseases such as heart disease and cancer. Free radical damage is thought by scientists to be the basis for the aging process as well. See Free Radicals for more information.

There are a number of known free radicals that occur in the body, including superoxide, hydroxy radicals, hydrogen peroxide, various lipid peroxides, hypochlorite radicals, nitric oxide, and singlet oxygen. They may be formed by exposure to radiation and toxic chemicals such as those found in cigarette smoke, overexposure to the sun's rays, or various metabolic processes, such as the process of breaking down stored fat molecules for use as an energy source.

Free radicals are normally kept in check by the action of free radical scavengers that occur naturally in the body. These scavengers neutralize the free radicals. Certain enzymes serve this vital function. Four important enzymes that neutralize free radicals are superoxide dismutase (SOD), methionine reductase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase. The body makes these as a matter of course. There are also a number of nutrients that act as antioxidants, including vitamin A, beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, and the mineral selenium. Another antioxidant is the hormone melatonin, which is a powerful free radical neutralizer. Certain herbs have antioxidant properties as well.

Although many antioxidants can be obtained from food sources such as sprouted grains and fresh fruits and vegetables, it is difficult to get enough of them from these sources to hold back the free radicals constantly being generated in our polluted environment. We can minimize free radical damage by taking supplements of key nutrients. A high intake of antioxidant nutrients appear to be especially protective against cancer.





Offsite Links

  • Medline: Antioxidant Nutrients: Current Dietary Recommendations & Research Update
  • Antioxidants Protect Against Illness & Premature Ageing: Info & Products
  • Free Radical Introduction
  • Antioxidants & Benefits of Antioxidant Supplements
  • AHA Scientific Advisory: Antioxidant Consumption & Heart Disease Risk
  • The Exercise Paradox: Staying Fit Increases Need for Antioxidants
  • Health Choice: Free Radicals
  • Health Choice: Truth & Misconception About Nutritional Supplements
  • Street Drugs Information (Antioxidant Page no longer available, but good info about drugs)
  • HCRC FAZ Sheet: Antioxidants
  • Under Revision: Goes to WomansWellbeing.com
  • Antioxidant Supplements
  • Revenol & Cascading Revenol Super Antioxidants
  • Introduction: What is Oxidative Damage?





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  • Prescription for Nutritional Healing: The A-To-Z Guide To Supplements
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  • Prescription for Nutritional Healing: The A-To-Z Guide To Supplements
    -- by Phyllis A. Balch, James F. Balch - 4th Edition

  • Prescription for Herbal Healing: The A-To-Z Reference To Common Disorders
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  • The Complete Guide to Natural Healing



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