How beneficial are antioxidants?

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

According to marketers, the word "antioxidants" carries health, benefits, longevity. The more antioxidants we get, the better we live.

The benefits of these supplements are actively promoted by doctors, pharmacists and nutritionists. Antioxidants seem to be the "elixir of immortality."

You should not mindlessly give yourself and your body into the hands of people who are not always interested in our health. It is worth turning on the head and using it for its intended purpose - to think, analyze, compare and draw conclusions. However, this applies not only to health issues.

Theoretical benefits of antioxidants

Antioxidants(antioxidants, preservatives) - oxidation inhibitors, natural or synthetic substances that can slow down oxidation (considered mainly in the context of the oxidation of organic compounds).

The mechanism of action of the most common antioxidants (aromatic amines, phenols, naphthols, etc.) consists in breaking the reaction chains: antioxidant molecules interact with active radicals to form low-active radicals. Even in a small amount (0.01-0.001%), antioxidants reduce the rate of oxidation, therefore, for a certain period of time (period of inhibition, induction), oxidation products are not detected.

In simpler, unscientific language, antioxidants are designed to stop the action of free radicals.

Free radicals are unstable particles with one or two unpaired electrons on the outer electron shell. They will want to take the missing electrons from their neighbor, that is, from your cell. This will set off a chain reaction that destroys donor cells (your cells). Unfortunately, we are unable to control the entry of free radicals into our body. Their sources are food, air, the reaction of the skin or retina of the eye to sunlight.

Do antioxidants really help neutralize free radicals? Will they help in the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular and other diseases? Moreover, according to the myth, they have not only healing but also rejuvenating effects.

Antioxidants can safely interact with free radicals, donating electrons to them and thereby blocking their harmful effects on the body. The human body can cope with free radicals on its own, but it is better not to leave it without nutrition. The main antioxidants are vitamin C, beta-carotene, vitamin E and selenium. They are not synthesized in our body. For these reasons, doctors and nutritionists recommend including foods high in these substances in the diet.

Practice

In theory, antioxidants can be a good prevention for many chronic diseases. But research has failed to confirm that taking vitamins C, E and beta-carotene actually helps fight cancer, heart disease, and chronic disease.

Heart diseases

Several studies found no difference in the condition of cancer patients who were treated with vitamin E and those who took a placebo. And only one study in Israel showed progress in the treatment of coronary heart disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (acquired).

Studies of the effectiveness of beta-carotene have shown that taking it as a supplement does not affect the patient's condition at all. Study of vitamin supplements such as vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, zinc and selenium have shown that they do not reduce the risk in any way

Cancer

Unfortunately, so far, only a few long-term studies have been carried out in the treatment of cancer patients with antioxidants. Trials with beta-carotene have not shown any positive results. Experiments using selenium have shown a reduced risk of cancer among men, but no apparent benefit for women. A positive effect was found for men with cancer of the skin, rectum and lungs.

Output

To date, there is no direct evidence that taking antioxidants daily will save you from cancer or heart attack. But these substances continue to be added to many products that are advertised as healthy. Radio and TV tirelessly broadcast to us about the benefits of beta-carotene in this "miraculous" cereal (yogurt, juice, and so on).

That is, at the moment, all this talk about antioxidants is just marketing, with the help of which they are trying to sell you ordinary foods with an excess of sugar for a lot of money.

The point is not that antioxidants are bad. Natural products contain a huge amount of other useful substances. Green tea, ginger, broccoli, cranberries without any additives are no less useful. Do not think that eating special oatmeal with a high content of antioxidants in the morning will lead you to a long life free of diseases. The body is a complex system, to maintain which you need to think not only about physical health and food.

Learn to determine for yourself what is useful to you and what is not. If you eat broccoli by force, then gaining benefits, you lose joy and pleasure, and without them you will not be healthy.