The Health Diva

Antioxidant Nutrients

Antioxidant Nutients are substances found in plants that soak up free radicals like sponges. If your body has plenty of antioxidants available, it can minimize the damage caused by free radicals.

Antioxidants nutrients include Vitamin A, Carotenoids, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Zinc.

Antioxidant rich phytonutrients are found in many super foods such as Acai berries, gogi berries, blueberries, purple corn green foods, and red wine.

Alpha Lipoic Acid

As an antioxidant, alpha lipoic acid (ALA) can neutralize free radicals which can damage cells. Free radical damage is thought to contribute to aging and chronic illness.

Unlike the more common antioxidants vitamins C and E, and it appears to be able to recycle antioxidants such as vitamin C and glutathione after they have been used up. Glutathione is an important antioxidant that helps the body eliminate potentially harmful substances. Alpha lipoic acid increases the formation of glutathione. Alpha lipoic acid is made by the body and can be found in very small amounts in foods such as spinach, broccoli, peas, Brewer’s yeast, brussel sprouts, rice bran, and organ meats.

Acai Berry

Pronounced as ‘ah-sigh-ee’, the acai berry is a tiny purple-colored fruit that grows in Brazil in the Amazon Rain Forest. The natives of that region have been harvesting and incorporating the berries into their diet for hundreds of years. Acai berries are a bountiful source for antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and Omega 3 fatty acids.

Acai berries are rich in a paticular antioxidant called anthrocyanins. Anthocyanins are a group of phyochemicals responcible for the deep colour of many fruits and vegetables. Reasurch on acai berries have shown their antioxidant activity to be the highest of all the anthocyanin rich fruit.

Acai has been linked to weight loss, this action is thought to be due to it’s detoxing action on the system.

Purple Corn

Purple corn (frequently referred to as blue corn) is botanically the same species as regular table corn. Yet by a twist of nature, this corn produces kernels with one of the deepest shades of purple found anywhere in the plant “kingdom.”

In the western diet, we consume very little naturally occurring purple food, so if you want a truly rainbow diet adding purple corn extract is an excellent place to start. Purple Corn extract is also very high in Anthocyaninins. Anthocyaninins encourage connective tissue regeneration and are anti-inflammatory. It promotes blood flow and reduces cholesterol, in addition to being antioxidants. Anthocyaninins seem to stabilize and protect capillaries from oxidative damage and have been shown to stabilize connective tissue, promote collagen formation, improve microcirculation and help protect blood vessels from oxidative damage.

Green Foods

We have talked about the antioxidant effects of purple foods: What about green foods?

“Green Foods,” are group of foods that includes young cereal grasses like barley grass and wheat grass, as well a blue-green algae, chlorella, and spirulina. Nutritionally, they are close cousins to dark green leafy vegetables, but offer far greater levels of nutrient density. Concentrated green foods, contains much more of the beneficial phytonutrients, than found in green leafy vegetables even.

The results of many experimental studies show that green foods have marked beneficial effects on skin health, digestion, cholesterol, blood pressure, immune response and cancer prevention.

These effects are attributed in part to their high concentrations of chlorophyll.

Chlorophyll, the phytochemical that gives leaves, plants and algae their green hues, is the plant equivalent of the oxygen-carrying red pigment hemoglobin in red blood cells.

The concentrated levels of plant antioxidant is why green foods have been described as super foods, no mask and cape, but they pack a powerful punch, knocking out free radicals, and helping the body to reduce inflammation.

You can get cereal grasses in powder or tablet form. Dried cereal grasses are certainly easier to handle than fresh, which must be juiced. However, fresh grass juice contains healthful enzymes not found in dried grass powder, and is likely to be higher in just about every phytonutrient found in cereal grass. Many juice bars and health-oriented markets offer these juices on their menus.

Goji Berries

For a little colour in your cheeks Go Goji!

Goji berries have been used for 6,000 years by herbalists in China, Tibet and India to:

• Protect the liver
• Help eyesight
• Improve sexual function and fertility
• Strengthen the legs
• Boost immune function
• Improve circulation
• Promote longevity

Goji berries are rich in antioxidants, particularly carotenoids such as beta-carotene and zeaxanthin. One of zeaxanthin’s key roles is to protect the retina of the eye by absorbing blue light and acting as an antioxidant. In fact, increased intake of foods containing zeathanthin may decrease the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in people over the age of 65. The Chinese have long recognized the antioxidant activity of Gogi. A Chinese study published in the Chinese Journal of Oncology in 1994 found that 79 people with cancer responded better to treatment when goji was added to their regimen.

Pycnogenol

Pycnogenol an extract of maritime pine, the healing powers of pine bark have been used for centuries. Rich in bioflavonoid, and procyanadins, Pycnogenol is an amazing antioxidant.

The extract has four basic properties – it’s a powerful antioxidant, acts as a natural anti-inflammatory, selectively binds to collagen and elastin, and finally, it aids in the production of endothelial nitric oxide which helps to vasodilate blood vessels.

Pycnogenol® represents a very potent cosmeceutical which offers a broad range of clinically substantiated health benefits for the skin:

• Antioxidant potency
• Increased skin elasticity
• Anti-inflammatory activity
• Improved skin micro-circulation
• Anti-photoaging and sun-protection
• Lowered skin pigmentation

Taking pycnogenol supplements over a six week basis have been found to increase, skin elasticity, this is aside from all the health benefits such as cardiovascular support, anti-inflammatory properties.

Pycnogenol® is effective for neutralizing a broad range of oxygen radical species. Moreover, it protects  vitamin E from oxidation and recycles oxidized (spent) vitamin C back to the bioactive form. Pycnogenol® thus contributes to the antioxidant network in the body. Following oral consumption of Pycnogenol® over a period of three weeks the blood oxygen radical capacity (ORAC) of 25 volunteers increased significantly by 40%.

Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid is a substance that is normally produced by the body. Hyaluronic acid is what gives skin its volume and fullness, as we age our hyaluronic acid levels decline, and our skin looses it’s natural plumpness, Baby’s have abundand levels of hyaluronic acid, it’s what makes them so cute.

An important component of the connective tissue that fills the spaces between cells of the skin and other tissues, and is a major ingredient of the synovial fluid that lubricates and cushions joints as well as the vitreous humor that fills the inner chamber of the eye.

Hyaluronic acid is gaining popularity in the cosmetic and medical industries. Cosmetic products containing hyaluronic acid claim to hydrate the skin, allowing it to appear smoother and more radiant. Clinical studies have shown that it also helps wounds heal more quickly, and can reduce the appearance of both old and new scars.

Red Wine

The Europeans have been drinking red wine daily for centuries. Many of them age very gracefully. A glass of red wine a day is also good for the heart, helping to reduce cholesterol levels.

A new study shows an antioxidant found in red wine destroys cancer cells from the inside and enhances the effectiveness of radiation and chemotherapy cancer treatments.

Researchers say the antioxidant found in grape skins, known as resvesterol, appears to work by targeting the cancer cell’s energy source from within and crippling it. When combined with radiation, treatment with resvesterol prior to radiation also induced cell death, an important goal of cancer treatment.

Although there is nothing wrong with the occasional glass of red wine, abstainers are not advised to begin drinking a glass of wine for the benefits of resvesterol as resvesterol can also be obtained from consuming the red grapes, and red grape juice, An easy way to ensure your are getting revesterol is taking a daily revesterol supplement, all the health benefits with none of the alcohol.