Antioxi-whaaat?!

Antioxidants have been talked about a lot in the health and fitness industry in recent years but until recently I didn’t fully understand what they were and why we need them. I’m going to try and break it down into simple terms and explain why they are so important for good health.

In order to understand more about antioxidants, we must first talk about free radicals. Again, you may have heard this term before but not quite understand what it means. In basic terms, when our bodies go through the process of creating energy (called the electron transport chain), sometimes a molecule can break away from the chain. These molecules have unpaired electrons in their outer orbit, are unstable, highly reactive and can react with other enzymes and molecules to produce harmful reactive oxygen and nitrogen species such as superoxide’s and peroxides (free radicals). These free radicals have been linked to:

Aging (free radicals damage cells and as we age these are not regenerated)
Cancer – particularly linked to pollution, smoking and charred food
Muscle soreness (DOMS)
Atherosclerosis (damage to arteries)
Deterioration of immune system
Cellular damage

The good news is that our bodies have inbuilt mechanisms to deal with these free radicals…in the form of Antioxidants. These are essentially enzymes that mop up these reactive electrons and turn them into less harmful products such as water and oxygen. You can think of these as little defenders in your body going around and intercepting the free radicals, neutralising them and preventing them from causing damage. It is important to note that free radicals are not all bad – we actually need them as they play an important signalling role and help us kick off the body’s repair process.

As we exercise (particularly cardio) we produce more energy and as a result, there is more opportunity for those molecules to escape and produce more free radicals. You may have seen scary articles in the past suggesting that exercise causes cancer or aging or both! These are very misleading headlines as they fail to mention that, this increase in free radicals signals the body to produce a greater number of antioxidants to deal with the scenario thus preventing further damage from occurring.

So, where can you get the antioxidants you need?

While the body does produce a number of antioxidants all on its own there are others we need to get from our diet. These are generally foods that are rich in vitamin A, E, C & B2 as these vitamins actually work together to recycle free radicals and make them less reactive and harmful. It is also now being realised that minerals zinc, manganese, copper and selenium play a role in antioxidant function. Current research shows that there is no benefit to supplementing with antioxidants so there is no need to waste your money on anything other than fresh fruit, vegetables and some good quality dark chocolate (hurrah!). As a general rule, foods that are bright primary colours contain high levels of antioxidants so get some of these into your diet on a daily basis and you’ll be good to go 😄

Dark chocolate

Prunes

Raisins

Blueberries

Blackberries

Strawberries

Kale

Spinach

Brussel Sprouts

Plums

Apricots

Broccoli florets