Some antioxidants are important nutritional vitamins that your physique must operate, whereas others are important minerals. Examples of antioxidant nutritional vitamins embody the immune-boosting nutritional vitamins C (present in brussels sprouts, crimson cabbage, and peppers), vitamin E (present in almonds, sunflower seeds, and olive oil), and vitamin A, which your physique makes from beta carotene (present in collard greens, candy potatoes, and cantaloupe). Examples of antioxidant minerals embody selenium (present in Brazil nuts, pork, and turkey) and zinc (present in oysters, beef, and pumpkin seeds).
Then there are antioxidants that aren’t precisely thought-about important vitamins however nonetheless have an affect on cells and tissues, Bradley Bolling, PhD, an assistant professor of meals science on the College of Wisconsin-Madison, tells SELF. You could find these in plant, animal, and different dietary sources.
A couple of examples of those antioxidants embody carotenoid cousins of beta carotene resembling lycopene (present in watermelon, tomato sauce, and ketchup) and lutein and zeaxanthin (present in spinach, romaine lettuce, and Swiss chard), chlorogenic acid (present in espresso, apples, and eggplants), flavonoids (present in berries, tea, and citrus fruits), and ergothioneine (present in mushrooms, tempeh, oats, and kidney beans).
What are the well being advantages of antioxidants?
As a complete, antioxidants may be useful as a result of they struggle again in opposition to that oxidative stress, which is linked to the broad swath of well being issues talked about above.
In fact, it’s vital to know {that a} multitude of things determines your danger of growing varied ailments—oxidative stress is only one of them. Analysis does level to a broad vary of well being advantages in individuals who devour extra antioxidants, however the NCCIH notes that it’s potential the advantages of antioxidant-rich diets could must do with a mix of gear within the antioxidant-rich meals quite than particular antioxidants themselves—to not point out different associated way of life or dietary components.
So let’s take a more in-depth have a look at a few of the analysis exhibiting a hyperlink between excessive antioxidant consumption and diminished danger of illness.
In a single examine printed within the European Journal of Vitamin, researchers labeled 23,595 People into 4 teams based mostly on their antioxidant consumption1. Individuals who ate essentially the most antioxidants had a 21% decrease danger of dying over a 13-year interval than individuals who ate the least, even because the researchers accounted for related mitigating components resembling individuals’ age, intercourse, and financial standing. (It’s value noting, although, that this examine was based mostly on a 24-hour dietary recall, or folks’s recollections of simply at some point of consuming.)
Analysis additionally signifies that top quantities of dietary antioxidants could affect your danger of growing sort 2 diabetes and stroke.2,3 And in accordance with a meta-analysis printed in Crucial Critiques in Oncology/Hematology of 19 beforehand printed research that included over 700,000 folks, a eating regimen excessive in antioxidants could scale back the danger of most cancers, with vital reductions seen with colorectal, endometrial, and gastric specifically4.
There may be even proof to recommend that specific antioxidants are related to decrease dangers of explicit ailments, although it’s typically actually exhausting to tease out particular relationships. Nonetheless, greater consumption of flavonoids has lengthy been linked with a diminished danger of coronary heart illness, and a current examine within the American Journal of Medical Vitamin suggests an affiliation with a diminished danger of Alzheimer’s illness too.5,6 And Dr. Giovannucci notes that top consumption of lycopene seems to be related to a decrease danger of aggressive prostate most cancers7, whereas excessive consumption of beta-carotene seems to be related to a decrease danger of breast most cancers (significantly, estrogen receptor detrimental breast most cancers).
