Antioxidants For Your Health
For some years now, free radicals and antioxidants have been the subject of thorough scientific research, focused on the destructive effect of the first and the soothing effect of the second. The results of these studies confirm the benefits of vitamins and of antioxidant nutrients already widely in use among the advocates of naturopathy. In this domain, the detrimental effects to the system of altered foods coming from crops that have been impoverished by chemical treatments (pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides) have been denounced for several years.
The presence of these substances in the human body has proven to be very toxic, since they seep right into the core of the cells, significantly weakening their defence mechanisms. To these harmful intrusions the effect new millennium can be added: transgenic foods, synthetic chemical products, radiation, ultraviolet rays, cigarette smoke, coffee, tea, alcohol, polluted air and water, etc. The cumulative effects of their presence in our body may lead to serious problems, one of which being an overproduction of free radicals which are hard to eliminate.
Free Radical and Ageing
According to researchers, free radicals would be responsible each day for 10,000 attacks on each cell of the human body! While most of the damages that are caused are naturally repaired by the system, others are not, namely those resulting from an oxidation of the proteins. The build-up of these damages increases exponentially with age. An eighty-year old individual presents twice as much oxidized protein as a forty-year old one.
Moreover, other scientific studies have widely shown the existence of a strong link between the presence of free radicals and the ageing of skin. Without a doubt, whenever skin wrinkles prematurely, loses its elasticity and liver spots or various growths start showing, it means that it is being ravaged by the harmful action of free radicals. Indeed, in order to make up for the electrons that are missing, the free radicals attack the membranes of the cells, more particularly the collagen and the elastin. This results in the destruction and ageing of the tissues. When their attack is extensive, the ageing process is accelerated. This is the case with the action of the ultraviolet rays produced by the sun, which, if taken in excess, generate a surplus of free radicals.
Finally, it has been shown that there is a link between the presence of radicals and the development of cataracts, arthritis and arteriosclerosis. Free radicals could even be responsible for certain form of cancer. A poor diet and many kinds of medication (particularly antibiotics) also increase the production of these undesirable molecules and, consequently, the risk of accelerating the ageing process.