Antioxidants: protect your children and future generations in one easy step - your diet

There are many articles and much evidence to support the theory that a high intake of fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of cancer. All this evidence has prompted increase sales in antioxidant foods and their supplemental counterparts in recent years, but according to Leatherhead food International, several large studies involving individual antioxidants have had mixed results. It may be that combinations of nutrients in foods have a greater effect than each nutrient taken in isolation. For example, a diet of fresh blueberries washed down with copious amounts of green tea is not expected to lead to better health.  Although evidence suggests that adding them to you diet along with a list of other foods rich in antioxidants, might well do.

Several laboratories have reported that individual plant-derived antioxidants (flavonoids) are thought to have protective powers. About 4,000 flavonoids have been identified. They constitute a major class of antioxidant found in fruit and vegetables.

Although your body has it's own antioxidising capacity, a significant increase of between 15 and 20% can be achieved through diet & nutrition tweeking.

Enzo's Recipes

Richly antioxidant diets have been linked to the protection of nerve cells within Enzo's brain and therefore against the effects of it's aging. Reserchers have concluded that motor and memory loss such as that of dementia and Alzheimer's Disease cannot be completely prevented, but that started early in life, diets rich in antioxidants help in the prevention and management of age-related conditions. Even for Enzo who is in the early stages of dementia, addressing his diet is an important part of how we are managing his health.  Living in Italy has given us access to an abundance of organic and healthier foods for our table. 

It is important to reiterate that choosing foods

rich in antioxidants benefits everyone -

you, him, her, them - everyone

The latest guidelines advise that everyone should try to consume at least five portions of fruit and vegetables everyday.  One of the methods Enzo and I use to feed his brain is to have 500 ml (20 ounces) worth of fruit and vegetable smoothie each every day, either as part of our breakfast or as an afternoon snack. We are slowly developing more smoothie recipes and will be sharing them with you.  However, to get you started we recommend that you give yourself and your family a 75% fruit/vegetable smoothie every day - yes, start NOW! It is the greatest gift you can give yourself and your children.

What are we protecting ourselves against?
Free radicals are molecules built in such a way that they have an outer electron which is unpaired - FREE.  These molecules therefore run around your body looking for an electron to complete themselves.  When a free radical pairs with your healthy body tissue it can impair the body’s normal function.  

Many of those free radicals seeking a partner are oxygen radicals. Although oxygen is necessary for us to live, it can also be toxic. This toxicity is known as oxidation, or in other circles is referred to as rust. 

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Free radicals penetrate the cell wall and kill or damage cells. This makes your cells more vulnerable to infection and degenerative disease.  Free radicals also damage DNA. This in turn causes future cell reproduction to be inhibited resulting in poorly functioning cells.  This damage may result in a “chain reaction” of mutated cells which we recognize as being cancer.

Free radicals make bone, muscle and connective tissue far more stiff and brittle than healthy tissues.  Once the tissue is damaged it becomes a place where free radicals can multiply over and over again.  This slows the healing process because new “healing replacement cells” and existing tissue cells, are attacked by more of the free radicals. Everything becomes unbalanced in favour of the unwelcome free radicals.

The Antioxidant ORAC Values of Herbs and Spices

So how do antioxidants help?
Antioxidant means "against oxidation" and are effective because of their willingness to sacrifice their own electrons to free radicals.  Once an antioxidant has paired, the unwelcome free radical no longer needs to attack the cell becoming harmless.  The chain reaction of oxidation and damage is therefore broken.

There are two lines of antioxidant defense within the cell:

1. The fat-soluble cellular membrane which is made up of among other stuff:

1. Vitamin E
2. Beta-carotene
3. Coenzyme Q (10)

Of these, Vitamin E is considered to be the most potent of all the chain-breaking antioxidants within the membrane of the cell.

• How do we measure the power of an antioxidant? The ORAC Scales