Antioxidants

Antioxidant is an increasingly common term and antioxidant products can be found in chemists, health food stores and even supermarkets. But many people do not know what they are. Rosemary Stanton explains the importance of antioxidants and how we can best get them.

What are antioxidants?

Antioxidants are substances which fight the negative effects of oxygen on the body. The body needs oxygen but it also damages the body tissue, producing substances called free radicals. Antioxidants work against these free radicals.

They are available as tablets or from food.

Tablets versus food

Tablets contain only a few types of antioxidants and do not have the most powerful ones. In contrast foods contain many thousands of different antioxidants. Olive oil for example contains 30 to 40 different types, which is more than are available in any other oil. Fruit, vegetables, nuts, beans, red wine and tea are all wonderful sources of antioxidants and contain ample supplies.

So why use tablets? Manufacturers suggest that we need them because most people do not have a healthy diet. However, for people who eat poorly, taking a tablet is not an appropriate substitute for good food. Rosemary Stanton recommends eating plenty of fruit, salads and cooked vegetables, the use of olive oil, nibbling nuts or drinking some red wine or tea instead of buying tablets. There is nothing very difficult about getting a good supply of antioxidants straight from food.

Further Information

For more of Rosemary Stanton's advice on food and nutrition consult: Rosemary Stanton's Complete Book of Food & Nutrition (Simon & Schuster, revised edition 1995, rrp $29.95)
Eating for Peak Performance by Rosemary Stanton (Allen & Unwin, second edition, 1994, rrp $16.95)
Healthy Vegetarian Eating by Rosemary Stanton (Allen & Unwin, 1997, rrp $6.95).

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