Sources of Natural Antioxidants:
Where Do We Find Them?
Fruits...Vegetables...Nuts...Seafood
Eggs...Grains...Organ Meats
Beta Carotene (Vitamin A)
Beta-Carotene is one of many natural antioxidants available to you
everyday.
It is derived from carotenoids in food and
is safely
stored in the body as beta carotene until the body needs vitamin A.
It is
then converted into the A Vitamin.
In this form, it is a fat-soluble vitamin.
This means that you should eat some form of fat with it to enable your
body to utilize it to the fullest.
Foods that are rich in carotenes include:
* Sweet potatoes * kale
* carrots * spinach
* cantaloupe melon * turnip greens
* winter squash * collard greens
* mango * cilantro
* fresh thyme
* Romaine lettuce
Beta Carotene is the safest way to take Vitamin A.
When you take supplements containing synthetic Vitamin A, you risk
Vitamin A toxicity, since large doses of the synthetic are very toxic.
Not so with Beta-carotene. The most you might see is some yellowing of
the skin if you eat too much.
Vitamin E
Another natural antioxidant is Vitamin E.
It is available in a wide
variety of foods.
The highest source of Vitamin E is wheat germ. One tablespoon of wheat germ
oil gives you
100% of the recommended daily requirement.
Other sources include:
Liver,
Eggs,
Nuts,
Sunflower seeds,
Cold-pressed vegetable oils,
Dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale,
Beet, collard, mustard and turnip greens,
Sweet potatoes and yams,
Avacodo,
and Asparagus
If using a supplement, natural vitamin E is called
d-alpha-tocopheral
or it also comes as natural mixed tocopherols.
Synthetic Vitamin E is dl-alpha-tocopherol and is about
half as effective as the natural form.
Natural Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a powerful natural antioxidant in its own right, but it also
helps other antioxidants work more effectively.
For example, it helps to regenerate
oxidized vitamin E so the E can help
protect cell walls from other oxidative damage.
The amount of Vitamin C in a fruit varies. In most fruits, the
content is greatest when the fruit is just slightly immature and
decreased as it gets to full ripeness. Two exceptions to this are kiwi and
jujube fruit. Prolonged cold storage of fruit also tends to reduce the
Vitamin C content. The following is a list of some of the more common
fruits available to you. EXCEPTIONAL **Acerola **
Babados Cherry, Guava-Tropical, Jujube, Kiwifruit-green, Kiwifruit-
yellow, EXCELLENT Black currents, Grapefruit, Kei Apple, Mango,
Orange, Papaya, Persimmon, ***Rosehips*** VERY GOOD honeydew melon,
cantaloupe melon, raspberries, strawberries, tangerine-mandarin, Tomato,
watermelon GOOD Pineapple, red currents, banana You will
notice that acerola and rosehips are included, but not really readily available
for consumption. I have done this because I felt that they are key to the
effectiveness of Vitamin C for certain conditions. This is solely based on
personal experience. I'm asthmatic and I used to be able to control my
asthma by taking 8000mg of natural Vitamin C with rosehips, acerola and
bioflavenoids and then reduce it gradually to 2000mg once the asthma was under
control. I suggested this to a friend who had very bad asthma, and he got
ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) tablets, and then informed me that he didn't get any
relief from them. Natural vitamin C is ascorbate and the inclusionof the
rosehips, acerola and bioflavenoids was the key, not synthetic Vitamin C.
Many vegetables contain the natural antioxidants of Vitamin C,
also. Some of the better sources include: Broccoli, Brussel
sprouts, tomatoes, spinach, kale, green peppers, cabbage and turnips.
|
