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What are antioxidants? How importance of these substances for your body? Generally, antioxidants are minerals, vitamins, and other useful nutrients that can be helpful to repair and protect the body’s cells that can be damaged due to free radicals. Therefore, these substances are often associated with immune-boosting, and many experts often recommend having a diet rich in fresh vegetables and fruits in order to boost your immune system.
You may also like to read about the most nutritious foods and foods to boost metabolism, before continuing!
The damage of the body’s cells because of free radicals is believed for one of the major causes that can lead to a number of chronic or serious disease, including arthritis, cancer, and atherosclerosis (hardening of your arteries). More free radicals that are exposed to your body, more decreased level of your immune system.
So, eating foods in rich of antioxidants will be so helpful to fight free radicals and you’ll get strong immune system and then you’ll be able to be better on fighting flu, cold, or other infections.
How much do you need in consuming antioxidants?
You should get adequate antioxidants to avoid a deficiency of your immune functioning and have optimal health! The big question, how much you should eat antioxidant foods? You should eat them in RDA (the Recommended Dietary Allowance). RDA is one of popular recommendations to explain the amounts of antioxidant nutrient and vitamin that are required by your body to keep healthy and have optimal immune functioning.
And the following are some RDAs of some antioxidants (talk more with a registered dietitian to get more advices):
Super foods (rich in antioxidants)
As mentioned before, eating more fresh vegetables and fruits in your diet menu will help your health. And there are some foods that have or contain higher antioxidants than others.
Vitamin E, vitamin C, and beta-carotene are some of the major antioxidant vitamins. They can be found in many colorful vegetables and fruits, particularly those that have yellow hues, red, orange, blue, and purple in color. To get optimal the health benefits, you should eat these foods in their natural form (especially for fruits).
A study conducted by USDA scientists that examined about 100 different foods (including vegetables and fruits) found 20 foods that are higher in antioxidants than others.
You may also like to read about the most nutritious foods and foods to boost metabolism, before continuing!
The damage of the body’s cells because of free radicals is believed for one of the major causes that can lead to a number of chronic or serious disease, including arthritis, cancer, and atherosclerosis (hardening of your arteries). More free radicals that are exposed to your body, more decreased level of your immune system.
So, eating foods in rich of antioxidants will be so helpful to fight free radicals and you’ll get strong immune system and then you’ll be able to be better on fighting flu, cold, or other infections.
How much do you need in consuming antioxidants?
You should get adequate antioxidants to avoid a deficiency of your immune functioning and have optimal health! The big question, how much you should eat antioxidant foods? You should eat them in RDA (the Recommended Dietary Allowance). RDA is one of popular recommendations to explain the amounts of antioxidant nutrient and vitamin that are required by your body to keep healthy and have optimal immune functioning.
And the following are some RDAs of some antioxidants (talk more with a registered dietitian to get more advices):
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| Table source © WebMD |
Super foods (rich in antioxidants)
As mentioned before, eating more fresh vegetables and fruits in your diet menu will help your health. And there are some foods that have or contain higher antioxidants than others.
Vitamin E, vitamin C, and beta-carotene are some of the major antioxidant vitamins. They can be found in many colorful vegetables and fruits, particularly those that have yellow hues, red, orange, blue, and purple in color. To get optimal the health benefits, you should eat these foods in their natural form (especially for fruits).
A study conducted by USDA scientists that examined about 100 different foods (including vegetables and fruits) found 20 foods that are higher in antioxidants than others.
 |
| Table source © WebMD |
Note: The health benefits are not always equivalent to the entire antioxidant capacity of the food. The health benefits also can be influenced by how these foods are absorbed and used in the body!
Can you get adequate antioxidants from certain supplement products?
Can you get adequate antioxidants from certain supplement products?
There are some certain supplement products that claims they can supply adequate antioxidants for your body, can you believe this statement? The answer is yes, but if you choose this option then you may be missing out on other important nutrients that you can get if you eat the high antioxidant foods in their natural form.
You should clearly understand that these foods have a lot of different nutrients that should work together to promote optimal health for someone who eats them.
Therefore eating fresh produce is more recommended than taking a supplement. However, there are some reasons in this modern living that make you cannot eat fresh produce so thus you may be difficult to get enough antioxidants. For this case, some experts advise to choose a multivitamin that also contain minerals.
And don’t forget to eat every food in moderation. Any food that you eat too much is not good for your health! For example, if your body gets too much of vitamin E or vitamin A, then this can be toxic.
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Reference: WebMD
