Antioxidants are molecules that fight free radicals in your body. Free radicals are compounds that can cause harm if their levels become too high in your body. They’re linked to multiple illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Your body has its own antioxidant defenses to keep free radicals in check.
However, antioxidants are also found in food, especially in fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based, whole foods. Several vitamins, such as vitamins E and C, are effective antioxidants.
Antioxidant preservatives also play a crucial role in food production by increasing shelf life.UFABET
Free radicals are constantly being formed in your body.
Without antioxidants, free radicals would cause serious harm very quickly, eventually resulting in death.
However, free radicals also serve important functions that are essential for health.
For example, your immune cells use free radicals to fight infections.
As a result, your body needs to maintain a certain balance of free radicals and antioxidants.
When free radicals outnumber antioxidants, it can lead to a state called oxidative stress.
Prolonged oxidative stress can damage your DNA and other important molecules in your body. Sometimes it even leads to cell death.
Damage to your DNA increases your risk of cancer, and some scientists have theorized that it plays a pivotal role in the aging process.
Several lifestyle, stress, and environmental factors are known to promote excessive free radical formation and oxidative stress