Contents:
- Medical Video: What are Antioxidants and Free Radicals Anyway?!
- Foods contain antioxidants to fight free radicals
- 1. Vitamin E
- 2. Vitamin C
- 3. Beta-carotene (vitamin A)
- 4. Selenium
Medical Video: What are Antioxidants and Free Radicals Anyway?!
Free radicals can enter your body from anywhere. From the air you breathe, from the food you eat, from the sun that exposes your skin, and so on. In the body, these free radicals can be dangerous because they can damage cells, cause inflammation, and even can trigger the growth of cancer cells. Therefore, it is important for you to reduce the amount of free radicals that enter your body. One way is to eat foods that can kill free radicals. Anything?
Foods contain antioxidants to fight free radicals
To be able to fight and balance the amount of free radicals in the body, you need to eat lots of foods that contain antioxidants. Antioxidants are molecules that can interact with free radicals safely, so they can reduce the amount of free radicals in the body before causing cell damage.
The body cannot produce antioxidants, so you need to get antioxidants from outside the body. You can find these antioxidants in a variety of foods, especially foods that contain vitamin E, vitamin C, and beta-carotene (vitamin A), as well as in selenium minerals.
1. Vitamin E
Vitamin E or d-alpha tocopherol is a fat soluble vitamin that has antioxidant properties in the body. You can get this vitamin E from consuming nuts, seeds, fish, vegetable oils, wheat, brown rice, oatmeal, and green vegetables.
2. Vitamin C
Ascorbic acid or commonly known as vitamin C is also one of the vitamins that has antioxidant properties. So, by eating food sources of vitamin C, this can help you prevent cell damage from free radicals. In addition, antioxidants in vitamin C can also help strengthen your immune system so you don't get sick easily.
You can get this source of vitamin C from oranges, strawberries, tomatoes, pineapple, papaya, kiwi, mango, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, brussels cabbage, and much more.
3. Beta-carotene (vitamin A)
Beta-carotene is a precursor of vitamin A which also has strong antioxidant properties. It's easy to actually find foods that contain vitamin A. The content of beta-carotene can give food orange or red. So, you can easily recognize foods containing beta-carotene from its color.
Some examples of foods that contain vitamin A are carrots, tomatoes, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, egg yolks, milk, spinach, broccoli, liver, and seeds. However, you should not consume foods high in vitamin A (like the liver) in excess, because the content of vitamin A in the body that is excessive can turn into poisons.
4. Selenium
Selenium is a mineral that is also antioxidant, so it plays an important role in preventing cell damage due to free radicals. You can get selenium from a variety of foods that come from the soil and from animal foods that get a diet rich in selenium. Some examples of food sources of selenium are brown rice, oatmeal, oats, whole grains, onions, chicken, eggs, and various vegetables.
