Antioxidants v Free Radicals - Our Personal Health War

Do you have a raging health war going on in your body? And if so, which side is winning; cell destroying free radicals or health balancing antioxidants? And how can you make sure 'the good guys' have the upper hand?

Discover how you can increase your personal health battalion..

Living is dangerous! Well you knew that; it's what we're being told every day of our lives, isn't it?

Now it seems that many of the major diseases such as heart disease, strokes, cancer, diabetes, cataracts, arthritis and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's are a result of our bodies losing our internal health war.

And the two sides to this war? Free radicals (the baddies) and Antioxidants (the goodies).

Why are free radicals the baddies? Because they are destructive

So what are free radicals and why are they detrimental to our health?

Free Radicals - A Hidden Scourge To Our Health

Free radicals are compounds with unpaired electrons. They stabilise by oxidising other molecules - including proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and DNA. The problem is when they do this it often creates more free radicals, which is not good news. When the free radicals oxide our cells they can cause considerable damage and some scientists have suggested they are a direct cause of diseases like lung cancer, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's.

"One per cent of the oxygen we consume turns into ROS," says biochemist Barry Halliwell from the National University of Singapore. "It doesn't sound like much but humans are big animals and we breathe a lot. Over a year a human body makes 1.7 kilograms of ROS." That's a lot of free radicals!

How Do Free Radicals Get Into Our System?

They are part of the chemical functions of our bodies, according to scientific research. You see even breathing puts our health in danger because of the free radicals this creates in our system.

When you breathe in oxygen you produce radicals - specifically reactive oxygen species (ROS). It's a by-product of our respiratory system. More free radicals are generated by our exposure to other catalysts in our modern oxygen-rich atmosphere such as smoke, exposure to X-rays, ozone, air pollutants, microbial infections, industrial chemicals and intensive exercise.

Bring on the goodies

Antioxidants - Our Natural Life-Savers

Our system works to eliminate these dangerous free radicals with antioxidants, which effectively pair off with and neutralise the free radicals before they can attack our healthy cells.

How do we fortify our powerful army? Make sure we get enough antioxidants to combat the free radicals?

By eating plenty of fruit, vegetables and other antioxidant-rich foods. Scientists recommend a daily dietary allowance of 4000 ORACs of antioxidants. (ORAC - Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity - is a method of measuring antioxidant contents in different foods).

Some foods contain higher levels of polyphenols, which are antioxidants. For example green tea and red wine contain more polyphenols than some fruit.

Feed Your Internal Army with Healthy Chocolate

But the good news for chocolate lovers everywhere is that the cocoa bean, from which chocolate derives, contains a powerful class of polyphenols known as procyanidin flavonoids. These flavonoids contain multiple units of polyphenols which work harder to prevent harmful LDL-cholesterol becoming oxidised and taken into your artery walls.

It reduces the risk of heart disease and the risk of strokes. In fact research has shown the cocoa bean is richer in polyphenols than either red wine or green tea.

Scientific Research Discredits The Myth That Chocolate is Unhealthy

Let me qualify this somewhat. The majority of ordinary chocolate does not contain very high levels of these remarkable cocoa polyphenols. Unfortunately the processing that takes the cocoa bean from harvesting to its final chocolate form eliminates a high proportion of the naturally occurring polyphenols - up to 70%. Dark chocolate, that contains a higher cocoa content, does have more of these antioxidants than milk chocolate. Which is why nutritionists recommend eating dark chocolate rather than milk.

But dark chocolate is not to everyone's taste. The very high cocoa content can give the chocolate a bitter taste. You may find that more expensive, dark chocolate is more palatable. For the additional health benefits you gain, it might be worth developing a taste for it.

One caveat though don't take these findings as an excuse to binge on chocolate. It should be taken in moderation as part of a healthy diet and active lifestyle. It's just that now you don't have to feel guilty about enjoying a small amount of chocolate on a regular basis.

2007 Julian Atkinson & Carol A E Bentley

Discover more about the health benefits of antioxidant-rich chocolate (milk and dark chocolate properties) at http://www.delvaux-acticoa.com

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