Antioxidants

Antioxidants - nature's "mop-up" squad to counter the "free radical" menace.

Antioxidants (or free radical scavengers) are potentially THE most important part of a basic nutrition program. Commonly plant extracts, these compounds are incredibly important as they circulate in the blood, "mopping up" the free radicals which cause cell damage and disease.

"Free radicals" are unstable compounds in the body that will "do anything" to become stable, which they do by stealing an electron from another molecule. In the process they make the other molecule unstable, and by this method, they cause tissue damage, which must be repaired to maintain health.

Whilst this process is used by the body to destroy bacteria and maintain healthy cells, it can get out of balance if there are not enough antioxidants (substances that react with free radicals, neutralising them) in the system, leading to a situation known as "oxidative stress". In this state, there is more damage being done to cells than the body can cope with and the end result is disease. Oxidative stress has been linked to everything from heart disease to cancer.

What causes Oxidative stress?

There are many causes of oxidative stress in the body, from ionising radiation (x-rays, over exposure to strong sunlight) and toxic chemicals (commonly found in everyday cleaning products , cosmetics and some foods) to dietary deficiencies. Dietary causes include both consumption of the wrong things - refined sugar and flour, foods high in nitrites (such as bacon and sausages) and virtually all prepared foods, as well as lack of consumption of natural foods like fruits and vegetables, which contain natural antioxidants.

Common dietary causes of free radicals

• Refined sugar
• Refined flour and other grain products (corn, pasta)
• Food additives
• Prepared foods (high in both sugar and preservatives)
• Mouldy foods
• Foods cured in nitrites (bacon, sausages, salami etc)
• Foods high in pesticides (non-organic produce)
• Hydrogenated vegetable oils, margerine etc

Commonly ignored foods that protect against free radical damage or are better than their "synthetic" counterparts, above.

• Whole, fresh, organic fruits and vegetables
• Natural vegetable oils (olive oil, flax seed oil)
• Dairy products (butter, cheese)
• Limited amounts of raw cane sugar and wholegrain (including wheatgerm) flour.
• Fresh, organic, grass-fed meats (beef, lamb)
• Using antioxidants to prevent (and recover from disease)

Antioxidants, however, are not all the same. Some last for longer than others in the body, meaning that they have to be consumed less often, whilst different antioxidant molecules are more or less effective against specific free radical molecules. Review the different types of antioxidants and their effects here.

So how do you choose an antioxidant?

The simple answer is "more is better". Most modern antioxidant preparations contain a vairety of compounds which have different effects and durations. These preparations are known as "broad spectrum" antioxidants as they give an array of different protective properties against a variety of radicals. Unless you are specifically trying to act against one particular radical, a "broad spectrum" antioxidant is likely to be the best choice for you.

There are also some modern preparations of antioxidants that provide intensive, high dose antioxidant therapy for people whose needs are either specific or immediate. Such products tend to offer a variety of antioxidant compounds, and some even claim to overcome the traditional limitation of "1 antioxidant molecule to 1 free radical" by employing "cascading" systems of antioxidants, which free up the more powerful molecules so that they can "catch" one free radical after another over a prolonged time frame.

Nutritional Supplements

what are they, how do they work and how do you choose them?

Nutritional supplements are without a doubt one of the most easily accessible and also one of the most confusing aspects of natural health. Manufacturers of nutritional supplements often blind us with science and scientific (or pseudo-scientific) names. Here we summarise the different types of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, antioxidants and other nutritional supplements, so that you can both understand what they do and why they are necessary for healthy living.

Why do we need nutritional supplements or food supplements?

Since the 1920s, Western Governments have known that the majority of our food crops have been grown on mineral-depleted soils, which makes them not only more susceptible to plant diseases and insect attack, but also nutritionally fairly worthless.

In addition to this, animal feeds have changed from the natural foods they eat in the wild to highly processed, chemical laden concoctions that are designed to maximise growth rate, muscle mass and therefore value whilst minimising cost and the time it takes to turn them into a healthy profit. The result is meat that is dangerously high in chemicals and totally lacking in the natural nutritional elements that have kept us healthy for so long (until the 20th century!).

If this weren't bad enough, the modern reliance on pharmaceutical medicine to remove all symptoms of disease instantly has led us away from the traditional cures that sought to replace what was missing in the body. Indeed, many modern drugs, such as diuretics actually make us lose the very minerals we require for health at an increased rate.

As a consequence, virtually everyone in the Western World (many "primitive cultures" are much better nourished than we are) needs to supplement their diet to a greater or lesser extent. the most commonl types of nutritional supplements fall into the following categories:-

Types of Nutritional Supplements

Antioxidants

Amino-acids

Carbohydrates

Essential fatty acids

Fats

Minerals

Plant extracts

Proteins

Trace elements

Vitamins