Antioxidants

Antioxidants are both in food and produced within the body. The most known antioxidant nutrients are:

q       Vitamin A, in the form of beta carotene (the yellow, orange, and red pigment found mainly in fruit and vegetables). Beta carotene is a pro-vitamin which means it is turned into vitamin A in the body

q       Vitamin C found in fruit and vegetables. The best source is citrus fruit

q       Vitamin E found in nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, and products made from them

q       Selenium, zinco, copper, and manganese

q       Folate, flavonoids, phitates, phytoestrogens, plant phenols and indoles

Beta carotene, other carotenes and vitamin C are found in combination in most orange fruit and dark green vegetables (the colour is masked by the stronger green chlorophyll colouring).

The antioxidants produced in the human body are:

q       Antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and SOD (superoxide dismutase). They are made from minerals such as selenium, copper, manganese and zinco

q       Antioxidant coenzymes such as NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), coenzyme Q10, and alpha-lipolic acid

q       Caffeic and ferrulic acid

q       Uric acid

Dietary antioxidants may play a role in the prevention of cancer and coronary artery disease by inhibiting free radical-induced lipid peroxidation.

Good sources of antioxidants nutrients

Beta-carotene

Yellow and orange fruits: carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, melons, apricots, mangoes, peaches, pumpkin, prunes, watercress

Vitamin C

Fruit and vegetables: citrus fruit, blackcurrants, kiwi, strawberries, gooseberries, green leafy vegetables, peppers, potatoes, swede, parsnips

Vitamin A

Liver, kidney, dairy products, oily fish, fortified margarine

Vitamin E

Vegetable oils: sunfluwer seed oils, almonds, hazelnuts, brazils, wholegrain breackfast cereal, wholemeal bread, dark green vegetables, wheatgerm. Fruit and vegetables are not very good sources, but the best are: apples, bananas, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, paes, spinach, blackcurrants, tomatoes, lettuce

Zinc

Meat, milk and milk products, bread, ceral, cereal products

Manganese

Wholegrain cereals,, nuts, tea

Selenium

Cereals, fish, liver, pork, cheese, eggs, walnuts, brazil nuts

Copper

Wholegrain cereals, meat, vegetables

 

 

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