What are free radicals anyway? How can you keep them in check and why are they so harmful to our bodies? It's all here!
There is a well-known iced tea advertisement. In it, the sugar drink is touted as THE magic elixir for health. It contains lots of antioxidants. And makes so free radicals harmless.
So: Just buy the iced tea regularly and never get sick again or what? No, it's not that simple, of course. And store-bought iced tea is never healthy anyway. There can't be that many antioxidants in it to compensate for the high sugar content.
But wait: What are free radicals, anyway? Is this another one of those new marketing gimmicks?
What are free radicals?
Free radicals are intermediate products formed by our metabolism. They are reactive, dangerous, chemical oxygen molecules or organic compounds.
What are antioxidants actually?
Attention follows: Chemistry!
The oxygen compounds with unpaired electrons want to snatch electrons from another atom or molecule.
They react with each other and form new radicals that want to elicit electrons from other substances again. This leads to an increase in the number of free radicals. This chain reaction results in oxidative stress.
What causes this? Primarily through cigarette smoke, but also through other environmental toxins or during prolonged and very intense physical exertion.
Causes of free radicals and oxidative stress
- Cigarettes. Cause 1 is quite clearly smoking. Everyone should know by now that it is harmful. With every single puff of cigarettes, the lungs form 1015 (a quadrillion!!) free radicals. That's 100x more than our entire body has. When our body starts to detoxify the tar, it creates once again 1014 free radicals.
- UV rays. Too much sunlight and solarium are very unhealthy. When we are in the sun a lot, we expose our body to oxidative stress.
- Extreme physical labor or competitive sports
- Pollutants such as benzene or heavy metals
This answers the question "What are free radicals" for the time being. However, you still don't know how this affects your body. And that is exactly the crux of the matter.
They can damage our cells and are involved in the development of cancer, rheumatism and arteriosclerosis. In short, they can make us sick.
Tip: It may be that your antioxidant household is not in balance. To replenish it, you can reach for direct juice from certain fruits that have exactly the ingredients you need. There is a 6-pack of juice from Rabenhorst on Amazon from dark fruit that tastes really delicious.
How free radicals damage your body
But one must not immediately paint everything black and immediately demonize them. Because free radicals are actually useful in small quantities. They fight bacteria and are part of the immune defense. However, it is very important here that they are really small amounts.
An explosion of free radicals in our body occurs when we come into contact with cigarette smoke. This also includes passive smoking!
Damage free radicals
- Proteins
- Fatty acids
- Carbohydrates
- Collagen
- Elastin
- Lipids from which our cells or mitrochondirs (power plants of the cells) are built.
And on top of that, they destroy our blood vessels. They can be very harmful to our entire body and promote many diseases.
- Arteriosclerosis and heart disease
- Cancer
- Rheumatism
- Heart attacks, strokes
- Inflammation of the immune system
- Cataract
- Diabetes
- Periodontitis
- Autoimmune diseases
And they make us age faster.
Tip: Do you know the book "Naturally young with antioxidants" from Amazon? In it you will learn how to get a strong heart, better concentration and protect yourself from diseases with healthy food.
Your dietary change is guaranteed to succeed!
What you can do about it
Our bodies can only dispose of them themselves to a certain extent. What we can do to help it do this job well is to eat healthy.
And thereby provide our body with many antioxidants. Because antioxidants help to keep radicals in check.
Especially vegetables, salad and fruit support us in this process. To get rid of free radicals, we need
- Vitamin A, C and E
- and the trace elements selenium and zinc
But you don't have to rush out and stock up on supplements right away. If you eat fruits, vegetables and salads 3-5 times a day, you can naturally counteract the formation of free radicals.
These antioxidant foods you should eat every day!
Our conclusion
What are free radicals if not completely harmful influences from the environment?
We can protect ourselves from some environmental influences, but we are at the mercy of others. If you give up smoking and too intensive sunbathing, you have already made a very big step.
On top of that, if you eat healthy and make sure you eat enough vegetables, fruits and salads, you're doing a body a very big favor.
PS: And you can save the iced tea. It's smarter to eat an apple :)
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