What is Antioxidant Vitamins?
The medical world has divided opinions about antioxidant vitamins. They prevent the free radicals from damaging cells and thus they fight old age and chronic disease. Vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene (a form of vitamin A) are the main antioxidant vitamins. It has become common practice to take some antioxidant supplement to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease and stay young.
Medical precautions!
At the moment, it is not 100% sure that antioxidant vitamins can improve heart conditions. Specialists’ recommendation is for people to eat a balanced diet with food from all the basic food groups. Antioxidant vitamins are normally taken from food and they are enough to keep you healthy. Better consume nuts, whole grains and fruits instead of supplements!
Other natural antioxidants!
There are other substances and chemicals that the body can use to fight free radicals, and these elements act in combination with vitamins. Normally, the secretion of free radicals increases because of pollution and extensive sun exposure. Green tea, gingko biloba, grape seed extract, zinc and selenium have a powerful antioxidant effect. Some of these are available in the form of herbal supplements, while the others can be taken directly from food. Drink one or two cups of green tea per day and have several fruit servings.
Physical exercises and antioxidant vitamins!
Very intense physical activity after long rest periods do more harm than good because they accelerate the release of free radicals and their damage rate. The best way to fight this is not to use more antioxidant vitamins, but to actually make physical exercises part of your lifestyle. Regular exercises are known to enhance the body’s defenses against the action of free radicals. Scientific information is pretty scarce here, meaning that there are no conclusive studies to indicate whether a supplementation of antioxidant vitamins would help an athlete fight against oxidation or not.
Whether to take antioxidant vitamins or not!
A balanced diet is preferable to the use of supplements, and all experts agree on that. A decade ago antioxidant vitamins were considered harmless, but no one knows how things really stand any more. At present, there is growing awareness on the potential toxicity of antioxidant supplements and their interactions. Stick to a balanced lifestyle and try not to over-supplement because that could be detrimental on the long run. As long as we provide the right nutrients, our bodies should work automatically due to the fine tuning of the defense mechanisms.
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