Table of contents:
- Foods containing antioxidants to fight free radicals
- 1. Vitamin E
- 2. Vitamin C
- 3.Betakarotene (vitamin A)
- 4. Selenium
Free radicals can enter your body from anywhere. From the air you breathe, from the food you eat, from the sun on your skin, and so on. In the body, these free radicals can be dangerous because they can damage cells, cause inflammation, and even trigger the growth of cancer cells. Therefore, it is important for you to reduce the amount of free radicals that enter your body. One way is to eat foods that can kill free radicals. Anything?
Foods containing antioxidants to fight free radicals
To be able to fight and balance the number of free radicals in the body, you need to eat lots of foods that contain antioxidants. Antioxidants are molecules that can interact with free radicals safely, thereby reducing the number of free radicals in the body before they cause cell damage.
The body cannot produce antioxidants, so you need to get antioxidants from outside the body. You can find these antioxidants in a wide variety of foods, especially foods that contain vitamin E, vitamin C and beta-carotene (vitamin A), as well as in the mineral selenium.
1. Vitamin E
Vitamin E or d-alpha tocopherol is a fat soluble vitamin that has antioxidant properties in the body. You can get this vitamin E from consumption of nuts, seeds, fish, vegetable oils, wheat, brown rice, oatmeal, and green vegetables.
2. Vitamin C
Ascorbic acid or commonly known as vitamin C is also a vitamin that has antioxidant properties. So, by consuming food sources of vitamin C, this can help you prevent cell damage from free radicals. In addition, the antioxidants in vitamin C can also help strengthen your immune system so you don't get sick easily.
You can get this source of vitamin C from oranges, strawberries, tomatoes, pineapples, papayas, kiwi, mangoes, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts, and many more.
3.Betakarotene (vitamin A)
Betakarotene is a precursor to vitamin A which also has strong antioxidant properties. It's really easy to find foods that contain this vitamin A. The content of beta-carotene can give foods an orange or red color. So, you can easily identify foods containing beta-carotene by their color.
Some examples of foods that contain vitamin A are carrots, tomatoes, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, egg yolks, milk, spinach, broccoli, liver, and whole grains. However, you should not eat foods high in vitamin A (such as liver) excessively, because the excessive content of vitamin A in the body can turn into poison.
4. Selenium
Selenium is a mineral that is also an antioxidant, so it plays an important role in preventing cell damage from free radicals. You can get selenium from a variety of foods that come from the soil and from animal foods that are fed selenium-rich diets. Some examples of food sources of selenium are brown rice, oatmeal, wheat, whole grains, onions, chicken, eggs, and various vegetables.
