Diet gun

Antioxidants are substances that protect our cells from the effects of free radicals, thus contributing to the prevention of diseases.

Free radicals are produced by our own body, mainly during metabolism, but their excessive accumulation in the body exceeds the body’s ability to neutralize them and is believed to be the main cause of worsening diseases such as memory loss, autoimmune disorders, heart disease, type II diabetes, cancer.

The antioxidants that our body produces are lipoic acid, coenzyme Q10, melatonin, glutathione, uric acid, L-arginine, certain metal chelating proteins, bilirubin and transferrin.

Antioxidants that the body cannot produce, and we must obtain them through diet or supplements, are vitamins C and E, carotenoids, polyphenols, luteolin, lupeol, genistein, resveratrol, lycopene, selenium, manganese, zinc.

Foods such as fruits, vegetables, spices and nuts contain different compounds that act as antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, polyphenols and carotenoids.

Natural antioxidants that come from food are different from those found in dietary supplements.

If we take vitamin E for example, it can be present in a supplement in its synthetic and natural form with different effects on our body. That is why studies give conflicting results.

Also, all supplements are concentrated doses of isolated antioxidant compounds that can affect health differently than foods that are naturally rich in antioxidants and due to the high doses that supplements contain, they can even be harmful to some organisms.

Adding antioxidant supplements to our diet will benefit us, especially if we have a deficiency of these components, e.g. vitamin C deficiency, selenium deficiency, etc.

However, taking supplemental antioxidants is not always safe or necessary.

High doses of some antioxidants can create organic problems, e.g. large doses of vitamin E supplements increase the risk of prostate cancer, large doses of beta carotene increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers.

Inappropriate intake of certain antioxidant supplements can disrupt the body’s defenses and even harm health, while the intake of foods with a high content of antioxidants such as vegetables, fruits, spices does not have negative effects on health, mainly because it is impossible to ingest very large doses of these ingredients from food alone.

It is best to ingest our antioxidants from food with a proper and balanced diet.

If we are deficient in some components in our organism or our diet is not adequate and most antioxidants will help us balance it within the body, then YES, taking antioxidants in the form of supplements is a very good choice.