Antioxidant Supplements

Antioxidants are a key ingredient that you require if you want to live a healthy life.  There are a number of antioxidant supplements available that are natural and that can assist you in living a healthier life.  There are also many types of food that contain antioxidants, although supplements are the ideal way to get the correct amounts of antioxidants in a consistent way.

The most important benefit from antioxidants is cell protection.  Antioxidants can help to protect your cells from damage, which helps to fend off diseases.  Often, you may have a deficiency of vitamins in your body, which will cause you to recover from diseases or injury very slowly.  If you have the proper amount of vitamins and antioxidants in your body, you’ll observe the difference in recovery speed.

Other benefits include:

No matter where we turn, it seems as if prices are going up.  Over the past five years, the price of eggs has risen 54% and the prices of navel oranges has risen 34%.  And what about the extreme change in gas prices nowadays?  Sometimes, prices are the result of uncontrollable forces, such as a shortage in oranges in Florida.  In more sinister cases, members of the industry manipulate economics so that prices are artificially inflated and reduced to best serve their bottom line, which is a practice known as predatory pricing. 

Lately, the supplement industry has been undergoing these rising costs which can be attributed to both the cost of fuel and environmental practices against the business practices of raw material suppliers in China, the place where most supplements originate.  A trend that appears to parallel the rising cost of fuel, the supplement industry has seen a great deal of price increases during the last year, which has lead to some serious vitamin sticker shock.  For example, the bulk cost of vitamin C has quadrupled since 2007, while vitamin B2 has increased 300% in the same period. 

A lot of new evidence suggests that consuming more plant polyphenols is a powerful way to protect aging arteries.  These polyphenol compounds help improve endothelial function, a critical factor in preventing atherosclerosis; inhibit abnormal platelet aggregation which causes most sudden heart attacks and strokes; fight inflammation; and support healthy blood lipids.  Polyphenols that are of particular interest are those derived from green tea, cocoa, apples, and black chokeberry, which all complement each other in helping to build the body’s defenses against various ailments. 

All throughout history, the medicinal potential of plants has been celebrated.  Modern science has found that edible plants are to be valued for their high vitamin and fiber along with their rich store of polyphenols.  Polyphenols are found in fruits and vegetables, as well as cocoa, tea, and chokeberry and have been shown to be a type of chemical that may protect the body against some common health problems as well as certain effects of aging.  Polyphenols protect cells and body chemicals against damage that is caused by free radicals and block the action of enzymes that cancers need for growth, deactivating substances that promote the growth of cancer.  The increased consumption of polyphenols has been associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and potentially cancer and stroke. 

Unlike macro-minerals such as calcium, which the body needs in gram amounts, trace minerals such as iron, selenium, zinc, silicon, chromium, sulfur, and copper are only needed in milligram or micrograms.  However, these small quantities do not reflect the importance of trace minerals, as inadequate intake can have huge effects on the body. Lets discuss a few of these trace minerals.

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide, with 20 to 50 percent of people affected.  The average body contains only one teaspoon of iron, but this mineral is crucial in oxygen transportation throughout the bloodstream and into cells.  A lack of iron will starve the body of oxygen and energy, which cause the symptoms of iron deficiency to be fatigue, foggy thinking, irritability, headaches, and lethargy.