Antioxidants - Why are they so important?

Inflammation - The problem
Why all of the hype about inflammation? It seems like every TV commercial for some sort of medication talks about reducing or controlling inflammation. Whether it is for Arthritis, Asthma, Heart Disease, Diabetes or Cancer, they all talk about controlling inflammation. News article after news article talk about the latest studies which have found inflammation at the heart of most of the major chronic diseases. In the short video below, Dr. Steve Warren explains why inflammation (caused by free-radicals) is at the core of America's health problems and why we need antioxidants to combat it:

Dr. Steve Warren


Free Radicals
So as you can see, free-radicals which are part of our immune system, are the cause of inflammation. What are free-radicals and how do antioxidants help to fight them. Check-out this video for a great, and simple explanation from the one of the episodes of "Good Eats."

Good Eats
The Body's Master Antioxidant

To fight the free radicals running around in your body, the liver produces a master antioxidant called Glutathione. In the following video, Dr. Mark Hyman explains the importance of Glutathione is to your body's ability to detoxify itself, reduce inflammation by neutralizing free-radicals, and preventing chronic diseases.

Mark Hyman, M.D.
How Can We Reduce Inflammation? 
So if the free-radicals are being created by our immune system (a normal function of our body), why is our immune system operating at such high speed most of the time and causing so much damage? Natalie reveals one of the things that trigger these unnecessary immune responses.

Natalie Butler, RD, is a registered dietitian and experienced nutritionist with a holistic view of diet, health, and wellness. Natalie is one of the most popular Nutritionist on the web with over 80 nutrition education videos available. In the video below, Natalie explains why our immune system is so confused and how some foods we eat may directly increase the amount of inflammation in our bodies.


Natalie Butler, RD
What Have We Learned So Far?
  1. Our immune system produces Free Radicals to fight foreign invaders. When the Free Radicals damage cells by stealing an electron, this is known as inflammation. 
  2. Antioxidants neutralize Free Radicals and protect our cells from cellular damage (inflammation) caused by the Free Radicals. Our body produces its own master called Glutathione. With age our bodies reduce its level of production of Glutathione. 
  3. Unfortunately because of the processed foods we eat, pollution, lack of sleep, and stress (to name just a few), our bodies create more free radicals than the antioxidants that our bodies produce can handle. This imbalance allows the unchecked free radicals to damage good cells that do not have the benefit of antioxidant protection (Inflammation). 
  4. Bad Omega Sixes found in certain foods (especially farm raised/grain fed animals and fish) can also cause our immune system to create more free radicals that are not needed.
  5. Damage from unchecked Free Radicals accumulates over time. and can lead to the development of many different health conditions, such as Arthritis, Asthma, Heart Disease, Diabetes or Cancer to name a few.
  6. Since our bodies do not produce enough Antioxidants to quench this inflammation fire in our bodies by itself, we need to supplement our diet to include external sources of Antioxidants.
  7. Fruits and vegetables are the primary source of Antioxidants to protect our good cells from being damaged by free-radicals while our immune system is performing its function. So eat up. :-)
  8. We should also eat low-glycemic foods that have high-nutrient density (nutrition per calorie) so you don't spike your blood sugar.

The Solution?
  • Diet and Exercise
    Increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables will provide a steady flow of antioxidants in support of your body's fight against those nasty free-radicals. The importance of eating both fruits and vegetables cannot be stressed enough. Fruits provide different antioxidants as well as macro and micro nutrients from vegetables. The colors of fruits and vegetables indicate the types of compounds that support a variety of systems in your body and reduce your risk of various chronic diseases.
    Eating certain foods can actually help your body increase its level of Glutathione production. Checkout our Glutathione page that explains how.
  • Juicing
    Juicing your own organic fruits and vegetables is certainly one option for increasing your intake of antioxidants. Find the right recipe and you could find that drinking your fruits and veggies is an enjoyable event.
  • Supplements
    Many people are too busy or cannot afford the cost of purchasing the large quantities of organic fruits and vegetables required to get the required amounts of antioxidants our bodies need. So getting nutrients via supplements is usually the option most viable for your average person. Checkout our "Supplements" page for a source of quality supplements that our from a trusted source.