Free Radicals and Antioxidants

I received a e-mail newsletter recently, from maxAwareness, a website devoted to raising awareness about alternative and integrative medicine for people healing cancer.

This article was relevant to anyone, whether they have a chronic illness or not – so I have posted it below – I hope you enjoy it, and I encourage you to have a look at the maxAwareness site and encourage anyone you may know who is challenged by cancer at the moment, to take a look for some inspiration, motivation and valuable information.

“I always wondered what FREE RADICALS are and why we need ANTIOXIDANTS to counteract them.

After some research I found out that free radicals are produced in our body as a normal process of the cell metabolism. Sometimes the body’s immune system purposefully creates them to neutralize viruses and bacteria which shows that they are not only bad.

But unfortunately are everyday environmental factors such as pollution, radiation, cigarette smoke, pesticides and herbicides and all the other 40000 chemicals not conducive to a good balance and spawn excessive amounts of free radicals.

The problem arises when the balance has tipped and there are excessive free radicals in the body which damage the cells and tissues. It’s like a chain reaction because this over-abundance of the free radicals creates even more free radicals.

In very high volumes these free radicals alter the genetic code of the cells themselves. Mutations that are formed by free radicals can lead to leukemia and other types of cancer and form the basis of other diseases.

Normally, the body can handle free radicals, but if antioxidants are unavailable, or if the free-radical production becomes excessive, damage can occur.

Antioxidants work at scouring away these free radicals and thereby leading to improved health. In its own defense the body manufactures antioxidants, such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, etc.

To fight free radicals, antioxidants can be taken into the diet, helping to detoxify and protect the body. The right diet helps us to counteract this process of oxidative stress.

Additional supplementation is very helpful too. Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Co-enzym Q 10, Vitamin A, Reservatrol are all helpful in this respect.

Below is a list of High Antioxidants Food supplements:

All fruit, vegetables and seeds should be from organic farming as the toxic load of herbicides, fungicides and …… just add to the cause of cancer and disease in general.

Best Sources of High Antioxidants Foods”

Fruits
Berries like blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, black currant, strawberries, tomatoes.

Cherries, plums and pomegranate would contain a lot of antioxidants too but because of their high sugar content are for a cancer patient not advisable to consume.

Vegetables
Kale, spinach, greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, red cabbage, red and orange peppers, carrots, red beets, parsley, ginger, turmeric and lemon.

Nuts and Seeds
Pecan, walnuts, hazelnuts, and sunflower seeds.

Peanuts are loaded with antioxidants too but because of their high risk to be contaminated with aflatoxines it is better to avoid them.

Superfoods
Goji berries, raw dark chocolate, acai berries, sea vegetables, green tea, spirulina.”

Leisa