Learning the Role of Antioxidant Enzymes in Better Health

Author: Gert Strand AB

Key among the ingredients in any antioxidant formula is the antioxidant response elements that help regulate how well the antioxidants perform their job. In addition to the complex mechanisms that help the products remove free radicals from the body's system the role of antioxidant enzymes is to insure they work as planned. As the body goes through countless chemical actions every day, there are certain parts of the cells that break down and release radicals into the system. These free radicals, with the use of antioxidant enzymes would float around, drawing on healthy cells for their livelihood, leaving destruction in their wake.

The antioxidant enzymes also produced naturally by the body, help regulate the natural antioxidants as the reign in the potential for terror created by the existence of the free radicals. While new products are introduced nearly every week that claim to help rid the body of the harmful effects of free radicals, without the inclusion of antioxidant enzymes to regulate how they work, the products will not work as efficiently as designed.

While no product reproduced in a laboratory can replace the body's natural system to keeping everything running smoothly, the use of antioxidant supplements as well as supplements of antioxidant enzymes offers humans a better chance of maintaining as well as improving their health.

How to Combat Free Radicals

Everyone wants to get rid of free radicals; the way to do this is by consuming antioxidants. You can do this by eating antioxidant and mineral rich foods. However many people don't have the time to make sure that they are eating antioxidant rich foods, let alone a healthy balanced diet.

If you are constantly on the go and rely on restaurant meals and convenience foods then you need a way to include antioxidants in your diet. One way to do this is by using an antioxidant dietary supplement. An antioxidant dietary supplement can give you the amount of antioxidants that you are supposed to have in your body daily.

Every Cell Requires A Little Outside Help

The body is a very complex and wonderful thing as it has the ability to keep every system running efficiently. However, there are things that can go wrong and the existence of too many free radicals can lead to cell destruction and when systems resultantly fail, the remaining cells can use a little help. The use of antioxidant enzymes has been studied over the years since the need for antioxidants was established.

The use of any antioxidant product will most likely have certain benefits but more importantly, they should also include antioxidant enzymes to make them work better and perform as they were designed. Some of the most common antioxidant enzymes include glutathione reductase, catalane and dismutase, ingredients often included in many antioxidant formulas.

These antioxidant enzymes are used in formulas as antioxidant response elements to help the antioxidant round up the free radicals, group them together and help make them more water soluble for faster, more efficient expulsion from the body. By using formulas that include the enzymes along with the antioxidants, the product will be able to perform more effectively.

About the author:
Webmaster Ann Nelson who is the author of Learning about antioxidants provides her audience with facts about antioxidants and free radicals. By knowing the human anatomy and antioxidants and its process better, people can improve their health.

Read more.. »»

Are Antioxidants The Power Behind HEALTHY Dark Chocolate?

Author: Timothy Prahl

There has been a lot of publicity lately about the potential health benefits of quality Dark Chocolate. The primary area of benefit appears to be related to the extremely high concentrations of "antioxidants" in the raw cocoa bean, the source for chocolate.

An antioxidant is a molecule that is capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation process in other molecules.

Oxidation is a chemical process in which an electron is attracted from a stable substance and moves to an unrelated oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can be caused by "free radical" molecules, which by themselves, can cause harmful chain reactions that will damage otherwise healthy cells.

Healthy dark chocolate is an excellent source for providing your system with high concentrations of antioxidants, which can neutralize and thus limit the damaging effects of free radical molecules in your body

Let's take a look at this cell damaging villain ... the "Free Radical".

Free radicals are not the result of disease or injury. They are created naturally in our bodies as the result certain chemical reactions, such as generating energy to feed our cells during physical exertion. They can also be imported into your system through cigarette smoke and other airborne pollutants.

Free radicals are chemically imbalanced, missing one or more electrons and thus having a 'positive' charge.

These radical molecules will seek to balance their charge, and will attract or 'steal' electrons from other molecules, including the molecules that make up your body's DNA and the mitochondria in your cells.

The mitochondria creates the energy necessary to sustain the life of the cells. Damaged mitochondria are weak and have lower energy and less resistance to disease.

Your body's cellular DNA carries the blueprint necessary for duplicating and producing new cells.

When the DNA is altered as a result of the free radical, the new cells that are created are imperfect and possibly malignant with the potential to form tumors or cancers.

Free Radicals are linked as a significant cause of most degenerative diseases, including heart disease, premature aging, diabetes, high blood pressure, and the creation of cancer cells and tumors.

Enter Antioxidants! Antioxidants are molecules that have available one or more FREE electrons. They therefore have a "negative" charge, and attract wandering, positively charged Free Radical, rendering them neutral and removing the threat to healthy cells. This free radical is now chemically balanced, and is no longer a threat to 'steal' electrons from your body's healthy cells.

So, having established the vital importance of having free radical neutralizing antioxidant molecules in your body ... where do they come from?

The human body is an amazing organism. Much of what our body requires to sustain life can be generated from within. This also holds true for antioxidants; however, dietary supplementation is also required.

Vitamin C is a good example. Unlike most other animals, vitamin C is NOT created within the human body and must be acquired through diet.

Most people are well aware of the importance of a consistent source of vitamin C in their diet. Vitamin C is a monosaccharide antioxidant, and proper levels must be maintained either through diet or supplementation in order to maintain a healthy body.

So, what relationship do antioxidants have with a quality dark chololate?

Scientists have known for years that cocoa contains significantly high levels of antioxidants.

According to research cited in The New York Times, fresh cocoa beans are super-rich in the type of flavonoid called flavanols, which are very strong antioxidants. All 3 known flavanols are found in the cocoa bean at an amazing 10% antioxidant concentration level.

Another research study conducted by researchers of the Department of Food Science and Technology at Cornell University showed that flavanols in cocoa make blood platelets less likely to stick together and cause blood clots. They also prevented fatty substances in the blood stream from sticking together and clogging arteries.

So, simply eat chocolate and gain these healthy benefits? Well, it is not nearly that simple. Any product can technically be called chocolate if it is the result of processing of the cocoa bean; however, very few of these products would realistically qualify for a clinical definition of being 'healthy'.

An understanding of how the cocoa beans are processed and the type and quantity of additives in order to create a specific chocolate product is essential for determining potential health benefits.

The multitude of Health benefits certainly appears to justify doing some research and identifying a source for antioxidant rich, Healthy Dark Chocolate.


About the author:
The author lives in beautiful Hilo, Hawaii, enjoys pursuing his interests on the Internet, and became intrigued with the subject of Chocolate being referred to as "Healthy". For more information regarding what constitutes "HEALTHY" Chocolate, download the author's FREE report, "Healthy Dark Chocolate For Life" at ==> http://healthydarkchocolateforlife.ws

Read more.. »»

12 Critical Facts About Antioxidants

Author: Richard Williams

We hear a lot today about antioxidants, "free radicals" and what we can do about them. There is much confusion, so it may help to break down the key facts about these important, potentially life-saving and life-extending substances.

1. Oxygen is good and bad. In the human system, this basic element is both a help and a hindrance. Without it, no life. And yet, oxygen can work to break down other substances in the body as it is metabolized, creating what are called "free radicals" that displace electrons from other molecular structures. This is extremely damaging.

2. Oxidation is the name for this damage. An antioxidant, therefore, is anything that works to stop or retard this damaging breakdown by adding back an electron to the free radical and rendering it harmless.

3. We have natural antioxidants. Our bodies can fight this battle naturally, to an extent. Common nutrients such as beta-carotene, vitamin E, vitamin C and selenium have been found to have antioxidant properties.

4. There are serious repercussions. The body actually does need some free radicals to function effectively, but an excessive amount is correlated with such diseases as heart and liver disease, as well as cancer.

5. Environmental factors affect you. Oxidation is exacerbated by stress, tobacco, drinking alcohol, excess exposure to the sun, air and water pollution, and other environmental and behavioral factors. There are things you can do in your lifestyle beyond taken antioxidant supplements to combat this scourge.

6. Antioxidants can be preventive. They work by reducing the number and effect of free radicals may even work to inhibit the spread of cancerous cells. For one example, they are thought to help prevent the beginnings of heart disease due to oxidation. By limiting the number of unstable, electron-deprived molecules, antioxidants can prevent the free-radical "chain reaction" from starting in the first place, in various places and organs in the body.

7. Antioxidants can be curative. We already have evidence that antioxidants can help ameliorate both symptoms and side effects of many diseases that proliferate because of oxidation in our bodies. It is also clear that antioxidants are effective in the treatment of chronic inflammation, and other applications are being discovered all the time.

8. The body's natural antioxidant mechanisms can be supported by supplementation. Our bodies already circulate many nutrients precisely because of their antioxidant properties. They also create antioxidant enzymes expressly for the purpose of controlling free radicals and the damaging chain reactions. Our systems will utilize any other antioxidant substances in these same processes.

9. Mom was right: Take your vitamins. Vitamin E has been shown to suppress the "stickiness" of blood platelets and acts as an anticoagulant to decrease the formation of heart-attack-inducing blood clots. Vitamin C helps in this as well, by inhibiting a blood factor that is used to build clots.

10. Cancer is the next frontier. Antioxidants may have an important role in the fight against cancer through their ability to neutralize the DNA-damaging free radicals. A huge amount of research is being done in this area right now, all around the world. The good news is that the therapies developed from natural substances will not be limited by the need for a physician's prescription.

11. Antioxidants are good for the brain, too. Because they prevent injury to blood vessel membranes, antioxidants can help to stabilize and even increase blood flow to the brain and the heart. The additional defense they offer against the DNA damage that is at the root of many cancers also helps lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia and even Alzheimer's disease.

12. The science is evidence-based, not anecdotal. One of the most important things to remember is that reporting on antioxidants is done by some publications and websites that are also touting crystal power and other spurious cures. The fact is that antioxidant research is being done by real scientists in real labs, in both private enterprise and at leading universities and teaching hospitals.

Information on antioxidants and the ongoing research into their applications can fill a good-sized library, and more is being learned all the time. Your best bet is to stick with the news that is being reported by responsible, mainstream journalists, notwithstanding the occasional media bias against treatments that are portrayed as being "alternative" or "complementary."

Read broadly, think clearly, ask questions of your doctor and always look for the original sources for any claims about the power of antioxidants. There are many reasons for hope, and the role of antioxidants in fighting both disease and the cell degradation that we call "again" is just starting to become clear. The next several years should see some amazing applications for antioxidant therapy, so stay tuned.



About the author:
A1 Discount Vitamins is a leading provider of discount vitamins and supplements online. Visit them online for great tips, information and product pricing on cancer fighting supplements and more.

Read more.. »»