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The continual promotion given to anti-aging consequences of antioxidants has increased the sales of pills and cosmetics, but its true value is more than skin deep. So what are antioxidants?

These are chemical compounds and substances which contradict the harmful effects of oxidation in your bodies. Oxidation generates by-products termed free radicals, which are produced when you are exposed to cigarette smoke, the sun, and large amounts of heavy metals, among many others.

When free radicals outnumber the antioxidants in your body, they can destroy healthy cells. This process is linked to swelling, aging, and a number of diseases for example cancer and heart disease. The role of antioxidants is to neutralize the action of free radicals. The body generates a range of its own. Plants also produce thousands of it for their own defense. Many that are of use to you can be found in veggies, fruits, herbs and spices, nuts, and whole grains. Tea, coffee, extra virgin olive oil, red wine, and dark bitter chocolate are rich in antioxidants. Those found in your diet might increase the body's own supply, and these might turn out to be more important as you grow old and generate more of it.

Thus what is the finest way to consume antioxidants? It is possible to intake all the nutrients needed by the body from plenty and a range of veggies and fruits, nuts and seeds, whole-grain cereal foods, reduced-fat dairy foodstuffs, lean meats, fish (look for those high in omega-3 content), poultry, and from small amounts of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats and oils. It is even feasible to obtain them from diet supplements, like pills containing vitamins and minerals.

Some antioxidants, including vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, selenium, and copper are the more popular choices and can be found in any good liquid vitamin.
Much of the promotion of antioxidants focuses on these popular vitamins and minerals, but the complex variety present naturally in plants may be more important. The human diet contains literally thousands of these substances. It is probable that they function most efficiently in combination with one another, enhancing the actions that the other performs. On its own, things simply don't work similarly. When they are consumed as part of the diet, other substances present in food might help them provide their full potential benefit.

Take care that you add antioxidants in your diet since the degenerative conditions caused by free radicals include deterioration of vision, arthritis, damage of nerve cells in the brain, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, accelerated aging, high risks for coronary heart disease, and certain cancers caused by the damage of cell DNA.

Death tolls have indeed increased because of the several antioxidants found in the environment. It seems as if individuals no more take care of themselves as well as they used to. It's time to take action concerning it before things are too late. The effects of free radicals are so grave that majority of people spend their most of their lives suffering from it. Pay attention on your diet and learn to value fruits and veggies more. That way, you know you're taking care of yourself as well.