The Truth about Antioxidants and Cancer
August 13, 2009 by Travis Van Slooten
Filed under Diet
People are frequently discussing the benefits of antioxidants. Antioxidants work to slow down the process of cancer and sometimes even prevent it. Yes, the underlying truth regarding antioxidants and cancer simply is that antioxidants really work to prevent the development of cancer in your body.
Antioxidants work in the body to protect the molecular cells from suffering damage from free radicals. Free radical damage can often lead to different types of cancer. Antioxidants like Vitamins A, C, E, lycopene and beta-carotene work to stabilize these free radicals and keep them from doing further damage to your cells.
There has been a lot of laboratory studies conducted that show not only that they work to slow down cancer but that they may even possibly prevent cancer development. In fact, many cancer patients load up on antioxidants to slow down the cancer process.
While fruits and vegetables are the best sources of antioxidants, they can also be found in other foods including certain meat products, poultry, fish, and nuts. Common anti-oxidants that are most useful in combating free radicals in the body are beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, selenium, and Vitamins A, C, and E. If you don’t act to repair the free radicals already found in your body, they will only grow more in number as by stealing electrons from other atoms, these in turn, will become free radicals too. The more free radicals are presents in one’s body, the greater the possibility of cell damage, until eventually you may develop cancer-ridden cells.
Antioxidants work to flush free radicals out of the body and they work on repairing the damage already caused by the free radicals. So you may wonder where free radicals come from and why your body has so many to fight against. The answer is that the free radicals are formed because of numerous causes. The process of breathing in oxygen causes free radicals. You will also get free radical formation from pollution, exposure to sunlight, cigarette smoking and food digestion.
Regardless of whether you are worried about the free radicals in your system causing cancer or you are genetically disposed to get cancer, you should begin to consume a lot more fruits and vegetables, as well as other foods that are packed with them.
You should also pick out a high quality supplement of antioxidants because most of us just don’t get enough of them in our bodies to actually stabilize and rid ourselves of the free radicals in our bodies. Not only will a supplement help you, but it will also give you the fighting power of vital nutrients and their benefits.







