What Is The Importance Of Antioxidants In Food?
Including foods with high antioxidant levels has become essential for those who want to prevent the effects of age. Antioxidants prevent aging and are capable of protecting us against a large number of diseases.
The antioxidant diet is therefore great, regardless of our age, since eating healthy foods never hurts. According to many experts, antioxidant foods are the true elixir of eternal youth.
Thanks to the antioxidant molecules, our body remains free from the negative effects of free radicals, chemical substances that introduce oxygen into the body’s cells and that literally oxidize us, lowering our defenses and accelerating aging. For this reason, following a balanced diet is the best way for our body to receive an adequate dose of antioxidants.
Antioxidant foods to include in your diet
On this occasion, we are going to focus on which are the foods that can most help us to follow an antioxidant diet. These are some of the foods with the highest amounts of antioxidants that we can find on the market:
Fruits and vegetables
As we could imagine, fruits and vegetables are essential in any healthy activity worth it’s salt. These foods have the highest proportion of antioxidant nutrients and should be eaten at least five servings a day. Some of the fruits and vegetables with the most antioxidants are:
- Tomato
- Watermelon
- Papaya
- Green leafy vegetables
- Carrot
- Pumpkin
- Sweet potato
- fruit and vegetables
- Fruits and vegetables
- Cereals
The selenium contained in whole-grain versions of bread, pasta, and rice contains a powerful antioxidant effect. These foods are beneficial in trying to prevent cardiovascular disorders. 200 grams a day of these cereals will be more than enough to prevent unpleasant surprises.
Oil and nuts
Olive and seed oils, as well as nuts, are foods rich in vitamin E, a nutrient with an important antioxidant function that is capable of strengthening the body’s defenses and preventing infections and degenerative diseases. In general, these foods, despite being very healthy, have many calories, so they must be consumed in small quantities.
Vegetables
Lentils, beans, chickpeas, or peas are some of the legumes that best contribute to preventing cardiovascular diseases and preventing different types of cancer. Taking between two and three servings per week will be beneficial to accomplish this task.
Benefits of taking antioxidants
Taking antioxidants has a great positive effect on our health. These are some of the main benefits that taking antioxidants could cause us continuously:
- They help neurons: Antioxidants improve the cognitive capacity of the elderly and lower the risk of neurological diseases.
- They stimulate the immune system: They strengthen our defenses and protect us from numerous infectious diseases.
- They reduce the risk of cancer: The antitumor action of these foods is key to preventing cancer.
- They protect the heart: It avoids the excess of cholesterol that is not harmful to the organism, therefore reducing the options of suffering a heart attack.
As you can imagine, taking antioxidants throughout our lives, but especially when we are reaching an age is a very important issue to protect ourselves from future diseases.
