Antioxidant Supplements It's a continuing puzzle even for scientists why people who eat lots of fruit and vegetables are less likely to develop diseases like cancer and heart disease. Sure, fresh fruits are generally low in fat and high in fiber, but it's much more than that. Recent studies have shown that part of the benefit from eating fresh produce everyday comes from antioxidants. They measured the dietary antioxidant and phenolic contents in honey taken from sevel floral sources, such as acacia, buckwheat, clover, firewood, Hawaiian Christmas berry, soybean, and tupelo. Using the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity or ORAC assay, they discovered that darker honeys have the highest values of dietary antioxidants. Antioxidant Fruits Antioxidant fruits are not created equal. Some antioxidant fruits may have more antioxidant content compared to other fruits. Others may have nutrients with antioxidant properties, others may only have vitamins. But whatever the case, it is still quite clear that antioxidant fruits are good for the health. The human body cannot produce its own supply of natural antioxidants; that is why we have to depend solely on our diet to get the amount of antioxidants our body needs. Groups of well-known natural antioxidants include catechins, coumarins, indoles, and carotenoids. All these are complex compounds found in almost every plant. The reason free radicals are highly unstable is that they have an unpaired electron which they try to recompense by stealing an electron from a stable molecule. This actually sets off a chain reaction that can damage the body's proteins and cell membranes, weaken the cell's natural defenses, and disrupt the cell's DNA. Free radicals actually play an important role in a number of biological processes, some of which are necessary for life, such as intracellular killing of bacteria by neutrophil granulocytes. They have also been implicated in certain cell signaling processes. The two most important oxygen-centered free radicals are superoxide and hydroxyl radical.