Saturday, May 19, 2012

The Best Antioxidant-rich Food Items

September 10, 2010 by  
Filed under Vitamins and Minerals

Antioxidants are substances that prevent free radicals from damaging the cells in your body. Some sort of anti-aging agent if you would. They are found in different kinds of foods that we eat everyday and are very essential to our health since they lower the risk of health problems like cancer and heart disease.

It is very important that we receive the right amount of calories and nutrients every day, and we can do that by eating foods from various food groups. Most of these food groups are also rich in antioxidants and that is what we are going to talk about in this topic.

Fruits and vegetables are food groups that probably always make it to the list of food you should include in your diet. We are not exaggerating when we do that because we all know that they are indeed healthy foods. So when you talk about antioxidant-rich food, they belong to the top. Vitamins A, C and E are antioxidants that you will find mostly in fruits like tomatoes, avocados and carrots. A good serving of these fruits everyday can help you stay away from heart problems.

Some fruits are just better than others. That is true with berries. Eating berries (cranberries, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries) can help your brain and heart stay healthy. The reason? Antioxidants of course! Berries are so rich in antioxidant that they are number one on the list of antioxidant-rich fruits. They also help in weight loss according to recent studies.

Ok, but if berries only number one among antioxidant-rich fruits, what is THE number one antioxidant-rich food then? Don’t be surprised but it’s the darkest of them all ” the dark chocolate. According to research, the cocoa found in dark chocolates are so rich in antioxidant that they beat even the green tea.

When it comes to chocolate, darker is better. Studies have shown that people who eat dark chocolate two or three times a week have lower blood pressure compared to those who prefer milk chocolate or no chocolate at all. You must remember that too much of something is not good for the body so having a balanced diet is still the most effective way to get the most out of what you eat.

See more of this author’s writing about things including the 3 season tents and kids ride on toys.

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