For many years since perhaps the dawn of mankind, our diets have always been rich in fruits and vegetables.
Man depended on nature for his source of food and man relied on nature to cure him of any disorders or illnesses.
Today, we still eat our fair share of fresh produce not just because doctors say they’re healthy but because they are said to prevent the onset of various illnesses.
Ever since the presence of free radicals in the body was linked to the onset of diseases, scientists and researchers have been trying to find out why people who had more fruits and vegetables in their diets were less vulnerable to illnesses that are said to be caused by harmful free radicals.
Their hard work and labor finally paid off when they discovered the presence of beneficial, disease-fighting substances found in most fruits and vegetables.
Antioxidant Tablets: Neutralizing Free Radicals
One group of plant chemicals that have been suggested as being beneficial are the antioxidants. These natural substances remove free radicals, those harmful chemicals produced during the process of oxidation in the body.
Free radicals can damage the DNA in the cell’s nucleus and this might lead to cancer formation. Now that we know how beneficial antioxidants can be, the focus of the study now is how to get as much antioxidants as a person possibly can in order to prevent the onset of diseases.
Unfortunately, scientists have found that human beings are one of the few animal species that are unable to produce their own antioxidant content. As a result, they would have to depend much on their diets for their source of antioxidants. Antioxidants are found in vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. They can also be found in fruits such as cranberries, blueberries, blackberries, apples, citrus fruits, and the like.
Antioxidant Tablets: A study
Clinical trials are underway in a number of countries to see whether giving supplements in antioxidant tablets in the diet might help increase the benefits of these helpful substances.
In one of the many studies aiming to come up with effective, disease-fighting antioxidant tablets, over 20,000 people between the ages of 40 to 80 were used.
These people were divided into two groups with one group receiving daily doses of three antioxidant tablets in the form of vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene. The other group on the other hand was merely given placebo tablets with no antioxidants. The study on antioxidant tablets lasted for a period of five years after which the results were tested and analyzed.
Although the study did not necessarily highlight the benefits of antioxidant tablets, it did however show that antioxidant tablets have no harmful side effects on the body.
Word count: 451