Antioxidants Keep Brain, Blood Vessels Running In Top Gear
It's not all that surprising that antioxidants protect brain health and cardiovascular well-being. After all, these nutrients snap up free radicals, which are highly charged ions that float around in the bloodstream.
As we age, our brain and blood vessels gradually undergo slow deterioration, in part due to oxidative stress. By taking multivitamins and brain supplements like Super Krill-Omega3, many smart Americans try to stay that way - smart, that is. That's because research suggests that antioxidants may preserve memory and keep the brain's blood vessels springy and resilient.
For instance, a recently published study has found that women who eat an antioxidant-rich diet are less likely to experience poor brain health. The investigation, which was published in Stroke: A Journal of the American Heart Association, found that this effect held true regardless of a woman's heart health history.
It's not all that surprising that antioxidants protect brain health and cardiovascular well-being. After all, these nutrients snap up free radicals, which are highly charged ions that float around in the bloodstream.
As your body burns energy, it naturally creates free radicals. However, if your diet does not contain enough antioxidants, these ions can cause breaks in DNA or cells walls. Called "oxidative stress," this deterioration is one of the phenomena behind cellular aging.
Yikes! Fortunately, a diet that is rich in antioxidants or supplemented by natural health supplements like Super Krill-Omega3 can give your body all the antioxidants it could ever use.
But what foods do antioxidants come from? In the new study, researchers found that elderly participants typically got about one-half of all their antioxidants from fruits and vegetables. The rest came from food items like grains and chocolate and beverages like green tea.
While eating more chocolate and drinking lots of green tea might sound delightful, it's pretty clear that such a regimen wouldn't be good for you. Likewise, it isn't always easy to consume enough produce and grains to get a higher dietary antioxidant content.
One possible solution is to take nutritional supplements like Super Krill-Omega3. Such products usually come in softgel form, and they typically deliver a potent dose of antioxidants like astaxanthin and vitamin A.
In case you've never heard of it, astaxanthin is a carotenoid, meaning it is a molecule that gives food pigment. Specifically, astaxanthin makes fish, shellfish and shrimp pink. It is also a powerful antioxidant.
So is vitamin A, for that matter. The U.S. Office of Dietary Supplements states that this nutrient is vital for bone growth, cell division, good eyesight and a healthy immune system. By taking vitamin supplements that contain these antioxidants, you may be doing your brain, bones, eyes and immune system a favor, all at once!