Nutrition plays a fundamental action and role in the fight against free radicalsresponsible foraging of our body and of the main ones patologie degenerative. In particular, those to whom we must look as maximum allies in this daily “battle” are the antioxidant foods. The good news is that they are all foods that are easy to find and within everyone’s reach: you just need to know how to choose wisely, and, with the right diet, you won’t even need supplements.
First, what are free radicals? It’s about the products of some metabolic processes of the organism, which cause the cell damage and are the root cause of most degenerative diseases. Lifestyle is essential to prevent (or cause) its formation: themoderate physical activity and constant and the right nutrition help the body to stay healthy and “young”, while the smokeand’too intense physical activityl’excessive sun exposure o l’pollution may be factors that increase its synthesis. If free radicals are in excess, the dreaded degenerative processes are created that we would like to avoid. Therefore, this is where the importance of the right diet comes in, which will make it possible to neutralize its negative effects.
Many essential trace elementsincluding selenium, copper, manganese and zinc, are involved in the activity of enzymes which they cancel the negative effects of free radicalstherefore the first thing to do is to introduce the right amount of sugar into the daily diet fruits and vegetables, which are rich in these precious minerals. So get into the habit of consuming at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, even better if you manage to get to 7.
Among the antioxidants, then, in particular are useful i polyphenolscontained not only in fruits and vegetables, but in tea (especially the green tea), nell’uva It is in the cacao. Other important molecules for their antioxidant value are the quercitin (found mostly in onions), il resveratrol (typical ofuvaespecially the peel), the isoflavoneswhich we find in foods based on soythe anthocyanins (mainly present in the Red fruits), and the curcuminwhich gives the typical yellow color to the curcumaspice well known for its beneficial properties.
I carotenoidscontained in all orange, yellow or red vegetables and fruits, perform an important antioxidant action. Among these, in particular, yellow or orange vegetables and fruits contain alpha and beta caroteneprecursors of vitamin A, also of great importance for the body’s immune response, while the red one, especially i tomatoescontain lycopene, which has important antioxidant and protective properties of the epidermis against damage deriving from excessive exposure to the sun’s rays. One of the most interesting characteristics of lycopene lies in the fact that, contrary to many useful substances contained in fruit and vegetables, which are lost with cooking, it instead concentrates when we cook tomatoes, therefore we can amply benefit from it even in the most tasty! Furthermore, ripe tomatoes contain them to a greater extent, and among tomato cultivars, i cherry tomatoes they are the richest in lycopene.
There are some too vitamins very important for their antioxidant properties: they are the A, the C and the E. Fruits and vegetables are rich in them, especially the citrus fruitsi kiwi eh peppers as far as C is concerned. While vitamin A does not undergo substantial changes if subjected to high temperatures, C degrades, and tends to disperse even when it is left in the air for too long: for this reason it is essential consume juices and fruit centrifuges instantly.
Ultimately, with a varied and balanced diet, rich in fruit, vegetables and so-called “superfoods” such as green tea and turmeric, you will certainly fill up on antioxidants without needing to resort to any supplements of these essential substances for health and for prevent aging at all levels.
