Free radicals and Antioxidants

Antioxidants are produced by the body and obtained from a wide variety of foods to negate the free radicals’ plan to take us down. Through a process called oxidation, free radicals steal electrons from other molecules found in fats, protein, carbohydrates, cell membranes, and at times, our DNA.

Antioxidants put a stop to oxidation by giving the free radical one of its own electrons to complete the free radical’s cellular structure.

Antioxidants are very stable and their presence in the body helps to repair cellular damage in the wake of renegade free radicals.

When we digest foods rich in antioxidants, they are absorbed out of the intestine and into the bloodstream to be transported to the appropriate organ and cells that are experiencing damage from free radicals.

Free radicals want to dismantle our cells and cause serious damage to the body. Free radicals that are naturally produced by the body serve a purpose in cellular energy metabolism, bacterial dismantlers, and detoxifiers. They are unstable and highly reactive. The presence of continued stress or inflammation activates the electron’s eating renegades, causing them to multiply out of control. Smoking, eating foods containing pesticides and herbicides, and the environmental conditions we work and live in, also heightens their activity.

When this excess of free radicals occurs in the body, it is called oxidative stress, and it is a serious issue that contributes to diseases like cancers, diabetes, arthritis, and the deterioration of the body, resulting in premature aging.