Antioxidants: Your Body

By Catherine Saxelby

Rein in the free radicals with antioxidants. Nutritionist Catherine Saxelby gives us dietary tips to help avoid cancer, heart disease and the signs of ageing.

Today, so much is being said about antioxidants and their role in providing you with better health. In fact, eating a daily diet which is high in antioxidants can help protect you against the two major killers in Australia - cancer and heart disease - as well as helping to reduce the signs of ageing and protect your eyes from cataracts and macular degeneration. To help you get your daily antioxidant intake, it's important to know where to find antioxidants. Believe it or not the answer isn't from a pill!

What are antioxidants?

Antioxidants are substances which protect your body cells and genetic material against damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. Antioxidants interact with and stabilise free radicals and may prevent some of the damage that free radicals might otherwise cause.

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What are free radicals?

Free radicals are formed as part of our natural metabolism, but can also be produced by environmental factors including smoking, pollution and radiation. Free radicals are unstable molecules which easily react with essential molecules in our body, including DNA, fat and protein.

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What do antioxidants do?

Antioxidants are produced in the body or obtained from the food we eat. The best sources are vegetables, fruit, wine, tea - and you can now add dark chocolate to the list. These foods contain hundreds of active natural compounds (called phyto-chemicals), but scientists have only studied a small number. Some of the most well known antioxidants and their roles in the body are shown in the table below.

Antioxidant Best Food Sources Known Role
Vitamin C Citrus fruit, berries, tomato, capsicum
  • Regenerate vitamin E.
  • Inhibits the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines in the stomach.
Vitamin E Vegetable oils, nuts, sunflower seeds
  • Maintains the stability of the fatty acids in the cell membrane.
Beta-carotene Carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, oranges, apricots, rockmelon, spinach, silverbeet, Asian greens
  • Inactivates free radicals.
  • Improves immune capacity.
  • Inhibits the daily stages of tumour development.
Selenium Brazil nuts, fish, meat, meat and eggs
  • Works in combination with vitamin C and E.
  • Enhances immune response and beneficially affects DNA repair.
Flavonoids Wine, grapes, apples, tea, onions and berries
  • Reduces the risk of heart disease by minimising the oxidation of LDL ("bad") cholesterol

 

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High antioxidant eating plan

Here's an example of how you can turn your diet into one that contains high amounts of antioxidants.

Breakfast
  • Porridge or high fibre breakfast cereal with low-fat yoghurt/milk and strawberries
  • Slice of grain toast with jam/honey/vegemite
  • Black tea

Lunch
  • Tuna and salad sandwich on grain bread
  • Tub of low fat berry yoghurt
  • Small orange juice

Dinner

  • Rump steak accompanied by wilted spinach, carrots and herbed kumara mash
  • Small glass red wine

Snacks

  • 20g dark chocolate
  • Handful of Brazil nuts, almonds or other nuts
  • Slice of fruit toast

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Tips to get more

  1. Eat the colours of the rainbow - choose as many different coloured fruit and vegetables as you can. The more colourful your plate, the more antioxidants you're getting.

  2. Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables - make sure you get your 2 fruits and 5 vegetables each day.

  3. Drink tea - both black and green tea contains antioxidants, so drink it instead of coffee.

  4. Use herbs and spices - many are rich in antioxidants. The most widely researched are rosemary, turmeric, ginger oregano, aniseed, cumin, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon.

  5. Red wine - enjoy a small glass of red wine with your meal, rather than beer, spirits or white wine. Red wine contains has 9 to 10 times the grape antioxidants of white wine.

  6. Enjoy a piece of dark chocolate - replace the milk chocolate with dark chocolate. Enjoy the taste and the health benefits - but keep it small.

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