What are the best Sources of Antioxidant?

The antioxidants provided by nature through our diet and in our water are designed by nature to protect life. Fundamentally, antioxidants quench pro-oxidants by readily giving up one of their electrons. Yet if that were all there was to it, one perfect antioxidant would suffice. This is because the body produces its own antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and gluthion. In fact it produces many endogenous antioxidants.

Nature & Her Duties

Nature provides tens of thousands of other antioxidants, many of which are available to humans through our diet. It is unlikely that a human could live for long without nutritional sources of antioxidants. The various antioxidants available from different sources have widely different effects on our health and functions. For that reason, a diet rich in a wide variety of antioxidants is best for our health. Nevertheless, certain antioxidants are more powerful health agents than others. The polyphones in Kudzu   (please also download my Raw Japans E-book for free to learn how to make use of this wonderful tea) provides a perfect example, as do the cartotenoids and polysaccharids in goji. Rseveratrol from the muscadine grape and many other fruits help protect our tissue in many ways.

Natural Antioxidants

Natural antioxidant molecules are MORE than just antioxidant – they boost immune functions and are cytoprotective (they protect our cells, cell membranes, mitchochondria, and DNA) in ways that scientist is just beginning to understand and the public is just beginning to really appreciate. It is becoming clear to most health experts, and to many knoedlgeable consumers, that antioxidant molecules have widely ranging functions and actons in the body. The body and mind are served best by consuming a wide range of antioxidants – though focusing on a couple major ones is a very good idea. All antioxidants are not created equal, in terms of how much benefit they may have in our bodies. For example, the incredible efficiency of the antioxidants in goji berries, as is being demonstrated in research study after research study, make goji berries a perfect addition to our daily diet.

The Answer to Optimal Health With Goji Berries

Research suggests that consumption of antioxidant-rich foods reduces damage to cells and biochemical's from the free radicals involved in this degenerative process. This may slow down, prevent reverse certain disease that result from cellular damage. This is the basis for the free radical theory of aging. The free radical theory has not been proven and there may be glitches in the approach, since clinical trials have not confirmed that individual antioxidants can prevent disease or slow down aging. Nevertheless, it is highly likely that by consuming a broad variety of antioxidants, degenerative disease might be reduced and the aging process improved. Some studies suggest that by destroying free radicals and reducing cellular damage, antioxidants in the diet can have positive health effects, such as preventive macular degeneration.

Goji berries, the popular, Asian “delicious berry,” are rich in zeaxanthin, the antioxidant molecule that supports macular health. Goji has been tauted as an eye tonic for 2,000 years and researches are now able to explain the action. Other antioxidants have been clearly shown to help maintain the functions and structures of the immune system, and others have been shown to have the potential to prevent neurodegeneration that results from oxidative stress. Still other antioxidants have been shown capable of preventing DNA damage.

By TTS Cofounder Botanical Chef Omid Jaffari