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What are Antioxidants and Free Radicals Anyway?!

Based on a work done on human blood in the lab, a recently published study says that the dietary antioxidants present in honey slow the oxidation of low density lipoproteins (LDL). Too much LDL in the blood leads to atherosclerotic plaque deposition. Like a previous University of Illinois study in 1999, researchers found in both studies that dark-colored honey, especially buckwheat, provide more protective dietary antioxidant punch than lighter-colored honeys. By reducing exposure to free radicals and increasing the intake of antioxidant enzyme rich foods or antioxidant enzyme supplements, your body's potential to reducing the risk of free radical-related health problems is made more palpable. The human body produces several types of antioxidant enzymes. The antioxidant enzymes include superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase. Red wine has always been considered more beneficial compared to white wine in preventing heart disease. Apparently, the antioxidant red grapes are the reason for that since red wine is fermented with the seeds while white wine is not. This most recent discovery of significant antioxidant red grapes adds to the growing reputation of the red grape as a healthful food. Many forms of cancer are thought to be the result of reactions between free radicals and DNA, resulting in mutations that can adversely affect the cell cycle and potentially lead to malignancy. Scientists have also pointed to free radicals as the cause of some of the symptoms of aging, such as atherosclerosis, alcohol-induced liver damage, alpha 1-antitrypsin in the lung, and even emphysema. Antioxidants are substances that work on free radicals, or more particularly work to counteract the damaging effects of these harmful oxygen byproducts. Scientists have linked free radicals to the development of degenerative diseases, causing massive cell damage that ultimately results in various disorders, such as cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, heart disease, and much, much more. Researchers have found that the antioxidant juice does this by reducing the damage in blood vessels caused by free radicals. Free Radicals - What are they? Now, I'm sure you know what free radicals are. This is probably not the first time you've heard about it. But for the sake of those who have only just stumbled on the term, free radicals are those unstable chemical substances that are highly reactive and are by-products of the process of oxidation in the body. 

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