Antioxidants

Antioxidant Supplements

Antioxidants are important as they prevent harmful molecules (called free radicals) from causing damage to our brain function, DNA, eyesight and other important cells. Free radical molecules can cause medical problems including heart disease, dementia, inflammation and even cancer, as well as less significant effects such as signs of ageing. Antioxidant Supplements from Supplement Tree can provide quick and convenient support for your body, helping you fight free-radicals and reduce your risk of developing associated diseases.

How do Antioxidants Work?

Antioxidants help keep your skin healthy, as well as your whole body. To understand how antioxidants work, you have to first understand free radicals and the effect they has upon your body.

Free Radicals

Scientifically speaking, free radicals are molecules that are unbalanced. Every molecule in our bodies wants to have a full ring of electrons, which makes them stable and happy. Free radicals, however, are missing an electron. This means they move around your body and steal electrons from important molecules, even DNA molecules, making the important compounds you need unstable. They cause DNA and other cells to break down. Deteriorated DNA can lead to cancer, among many other diseases.

Free radicals also cause the degradation of cells that keep us looking young, like the protein molecules in our skin. The older you get, the more free radicals you have in your body, and the more damage they do. This is why we develop wrinkles as we age.

Free radicals are produced in our bodies as a side effect of important chemical processes. It means that it’s vital we ensure our diets are full of antioxidant-rich foods throughout our lives. However, at Supplement Tree, we understand that sometimes this isn’t enough, or sometimes it’s hard to achieve. This is why antioxidant supplements are so useful. They support your body, allowing your systems to deal with the free radicals in a natural and easy way.

While free radicals do build up naturally, there are some other influences that can increase the product of free radicals in your body. These include:

• Exposure to toxins, such as air pollution or pesticides.
• Smoking
• Fried food
• Alcohol

However, there is a way to tackle free radicals in our bodies.

Antioxidant Molecules

Antioxidants are molecules that have an extra electron. This means they seek out the free radicals and give them the electron, making them stable and unable to cause damage to the important materials in your body. The major antioxidants that do this are vitamin E, beta-carotene and vitamin C — although there are many others.

You can find antioxidants in foods. There are some foods that are particularly rich in them, including the darkest green shades of vegetables like kale. You can also find large amounts in:

• Goji berries
• Acai berries
• Flaxseed
• Kidney beans
• Cranberries

And many more foods. Our supplements are based around foods with extremely high quantities of antioxidants and are free from unnatural compounds or preservatives. You can see a full ingredient list on all our product pages, so you know exactly what you’re getting. We extract the highest levels of antioxidants to put into our supplements; you can relax knowing that your body is receiving the best antioxidant supplement support.