The influence of diet on health is known since the Ancient Greeks. Our bodies simply can not synthesize many essential compounds, so our health depends in part on what we eat and drink.
Antioxidants, which are believed to help protect us from both cancer and heart disease, are an element of this kind that we must import into our bodies. Studies have shown that there is an important positive association between a higher intake of fruits and vegetables and a lower risk of chronic diseases.
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Fruits and vegetables are sources of numerous micronutrients and some, including beta-carotene (a precursor of vitamin A), vitamin C, vitamin E and selenium, have antioxidant qualities. But what specifically makes fruits and vegetables so beneficial is not clear.
The main role of antioxidants is to prevent damage by oxidation of cellular components, so it was proposed that dietary antioxidants reduce this damage and, with it, the risk of becoming ill. This has stimulated interest in the possible preventive capacity of antioxidant supplements.
In fact, the consumption of antioxidant supplements in developed countries has become widespread. More than a third of adults in developed countries now ingest antioxidant pills, which is much easier than eating fruits and vegetables. But will the benefits be the same?
As with any therapeutic intervention, the most convincing and direct evidence of the preventive efficacy of antioxidant supplements requires randomized and controlled clinical trials. This type of testing eliminates the problems of participants' dietary registration and controls the effects of known and unknown puzzling factors.
So far, many studies have been conducted to verify the supposed beneficial effects of antioxidant supplements. But while the results of epidemiological studies have been almost absolutely positive, the results of clinical trials remain largely uncertain.
Some clinical trials were stopped prematurely because harmful effects of antioxidant supplements were observed. By the way, today there is overwhelming evidence that questions the preventive effect of antioxidant pills. On the contrary, they can be harmful and lead to a higher mortality risk in the people who consume them.
There are several possible explanations for the negative effect of antioxidant supplements. First, the "free radicals" against which antioxidants act perform a dual biological function. Free radicals are produced continuously in all cells as part of their normal functioning. At moderate concentrations, they are essential mediators of the reactions by which our organisms eliminate unwanted cells.
By eliminating free radicals from our body we interfere in important defensive mechanisms to eliminate damaged cells, including cancer cells. So antioxidants can also harm people. While our diets usually contain safe levels, highly concentrated antioxidant supplements can be dangerous.
In fact, the amounts of antioxidants that provide protection are unknown and probably differ from one individual to another. People exposed to increased oxidation stress may have high antioxidant requirements.
What's more, the antioxidant supplements in pills are synthetic and biochemically unbalanced with respect to their naturally occurring counterparts. Nor are they subjected to the same rigorous toxicity studies as other pharmaceutical agents. By the way, we still do not have substantial information about how our bodies metabolize them and how they interact with each other. Consequently, it remains uncertain whether the dose, duration of use or parallel intake of other agents determines differences in their effect.
It is also uncertain whether oxidative stress is a major cause or a secondary phenomenon of chronic diseases, as well as the aging process. In most human diseases, oxidative stress is simply a symptom. So the link between oxidative stress and disease should not be given too much importance.
There are still many bumps in our knowledge of the mechanisms of action of antioxidant supplements. Still basic questions must be solved regarding the efficacy and safety of the consumption of relatively high doses of antioxidant supplements. To improve our knowledge, it is necessary to see the results of ongoing clinical trials and future studies.
Meanwhile, we know that antioxidants can cause unwanted health consequences. So the optimal source of antioxidants is diet, not supplements. In short, we should stop taking pills and eat more fruits and vegetables.
Antioxidant properties of food
IMPROVEMENTS In addition to satisfying hunger, food also contributes to the oxygenation process. A specialist talks about free radicals and how to take advantage of each fruit.
"For the oxygen we live and for the oxygen we die", indicates Ana Molina Jiménez, licensed in pharmacy and specialized in human nutrition and dietetics at the head of AM Integral Nutrition. And is that oxidation is a natural process, the body needs oxygen to transform it into energy, but in turn causes aging and cellular wear. An imbalance between prooxidant factors and antioxidant mechanisms causes stress or oxidative damage with an excess of free radicals, some molecules whose function is to eliminate bacteria and form connections between collagen fibers and skin but which, given their particular instability, can damage tissues and cells giving rise to coronary, neurodegenerative or carcinogenic diseases, among others.
What produces an excess of free radicals?
A lifestyle away from healthy guidelines is the starting point to cause an excess of free radicals. These are the main factors cited by the author of the book "The healthy of food":
- - Consumption of drugs that cause toxicity
- - Tobacco and excessive consumption of alcohol
- - Ionizing radiation and sunlight
- - A diet poor in antioxidant foods, such as fruits and vegetables
- - Stress
- - Strenuous exercise
To defend ourselves from oxidation, the body has endogenous mechanisms but it is also necessary to take advantage of exogenous antioxidants that arrive through the foods that contain them.
The main antioxidants in the diet
The main exogenous antioxidants that we find, mainly in fruits and vegetables, are:
- - Vitamin C: it is the most abundant water-soluble antioxidant in the blood. Food: red pepper, brussels sprouts, broccoli, kiwi, strawberry or orange.
- - Vitamin E: fat-soluble antioxidant. Food: hazelnut, almond, coconut, sprouted soy, nuts, olive oil or spinach.
- - Carotenes: beta-carotene and lycopene. Tomato, papaya, pepper, persimmon, carrot.
- - Polyphenols: as anthocyanins, flavones or resveratrol. Food: blueberries, pomegranate, purple grape, broccoli, cocoa.
Cooked or raw?
Eating the raw vegetables to take advantage of all their properties without processing is the end in itself of the raw vegan cuisine. However it is not always so. There are antioxidants that are more potent in crude, but there are others that are reinforced, for example, when subjected to a thermal process.
Vitamin C, which is water-soluble, is more susceptible to heat treatments and can degrade in cooking since steam reduces hydration. But also for a prolonged exposure to air and light (transparent containers); for excessive ripening of the product and for the high temperatures when cooking and processing for industrial containers.
But also if it is in an acid medium, although there is no oxygen as in cans, in addition to contact with iron and copper as in some kitchen utensils and that of multivitamin complexes. That's why foods rich in vitamin C are best taken raw. And of all of them, the one with the highest proportion of this micronutrient is red pepper, three times more vitamin C than orange.
Another case is the tomato, although it also has vitamin C, what stands out in its composition is lycopene, "a rigid molecule trapped in a fibrous form that is necessary to break so that it is activated and can be absorbed by the body ", Indicates the also responsible for R & D at the company Biosabor de Almería.
And what produces that break is the heat and the crushed and what makes it absorb better is the oil since it is fat-soluble.
Regarding watermelon, which has more lycopene than tomato, it is recommended that it be liquefied by the effect of the crushed in the molecule that will activate the lycopene.
As for beta-carotene, which contain orange-colored foods such as carrots, apricots or squash but also others such as spinach, the antioxidant power increases or decreases depending on the food and the way to process it.
Thus, red and orange fruits and vegetables (papaya, mango, pumpkin, tomato or red pepper) contain the beta-carotenes within lipid micelles that can be easily absorbed but are inactivated when in contact with heat and processed. That's why it's better to take them raw.
On the other hand, green leafy vegetables and carrots present their beta-carotenes grouped in the chloroplasts or forming part of fibers and proteins, requiring a thermal and processed treatment for the release of carotene from their rigid structures. Better cooked.
In any case, the loss of color of these foods is a sign that they are losing nutrients , refrigerate them and the exclusion of oxygen (vacuum) reduce losses during processing and storage.