Oxygen is one of the essential elements that are needed by all the members who belong to the animal kingdom. Oxygen is an element that is present in the air and is responsible for triggering the burning of fat and glucose in order to provide the body with its necessary supply of energy and heat. However essential it may be, oxygen unfortunately also has some effects that are negative.

During the oxidation process, free radicals, which are highly reactive byproducts, are produced. When other molecules interact with these free radicals they themselves get turned into free radicals and their normal functioning gets disrupted. Eventually this could lead to massive tissue damage and cell destruction. It could even lead to the incidence of degenerative diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, artherosclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and heart disease.

Fortunately for us the human body is naturally equipped with defenses that work to prevent the harmful effects of these free radical compounds. Antioxidants are chemical substances that are naturally present in vegetables as well as fruit. These antioxidants hunt down free radicals and act on them. This causes the free radicals to get neutralized and stops their rampage and the damage they do to the body’s healthy cells, thus preventing or decreasing the incidence of disease.

Antioxidant Effects of Plants

Camellia sinensis is one of many plants that are known to contain a high level of disease-fighting antioxidants. This plant is sometimes also called the tea plant. Chinese households have been serving tea as a healthy beverage for hundreds of years in order to promote general well being and good health. Green tea in particular is very popular because of the many remarkable health benefits it provides.

Green tea is very popular in Japan, India. Thailand and China where people have been drinking it for years. Green tea has been used as one of the ingredients in many traditional Indian as well as Chinese medicines. Green tea is used in medicine as a:
* Stimulant
* Astringent- it helps wounds to heal and also controls bleeding
* Diuretic- promotes urine excretion
* Agent that improves health of the heart.

The benefits derived from green tea are believed to be largely due to the polycatechins that are present in it. These polycatechins have very powerful and highly effective antioxidant effects. Other than polycatechins there are many other ingredients present that contribute to the antioxidant properties of green tea.

The Antioxidant Properties of Green Tea

The antioxidant properties and effects of green tea are due to the presence of powerful polyphenolic antioxidants, also known as catechins. The other substances that give green tea its antioxidant properties include Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin A and tannin. Green tea also has powerful neuro-protective, anti-carcinogenic, anti-microbial and cardio-protective properties. Epigallocatechin gallate, which is an especially bioactive catechin, has been identified by many scientists as particularly important because its antioxidant effects have been linked to cancer prevention.

Antioxidants have been given so much attention and focus of late that everyone cannot help being aware of the health benefits derived from these antioxidants. The health and scientific communities are constantly making new discoveries and work hard at raising awareness on antioxidants and their health benefits.

Studies show that there are many different kinds of antioxidants. Every antioxidant has a different potency from the others and each one also has a different action from any of the other antioxidants. Some antioxidants help in increasing metabolism of fat while others work by helping to combat cancer. Scientists have been trying to ascertain which antioxidant is the most powerful among the various ones that are provided to us by nature.

The French have an interesting title for the antioxidant that is considered most powerful of all. They call it “Gift of the grape”. Time and again the question has been raised about what is the substance present in grapes that enable them to have such powerful antioxidant properties? What secret ingredient did grapes contain? Also why would these antioxidants be considered as the most powerful of all others?

This antioxidant that is considered most powerful, acts by strengthening weakened and fragile blood vessels. In the process, circulatory problems also get reversed or prevented from occurring.

Grape seed extract, which is now considered to be the most powerful of all antioxidants, has twenty times the power as compared to Vitamin C and fifty times more power as compared to Vitamin E. A VERIS Research Summary, done in December 1996, suggested that heart attacks were reduced by as much as 77% on taking a daily dose of 400 IU of Vitamin E. Which means the most powerful antioxidant would potentially offer much higher benefits. Grape seed extract appears to be a much stronger antioxidant as compared to Vitamin E. Because of its powerful antioxidant properties, grape seed extract is emerging as a natural alternative to be used in the treatment of patients who are suffering from heart disease.

It is the active ingredients that are present in grape seed that make it so powerful as an antioxidant. These active ingredients assist the body in neutralizing free radicals. In the process free radicals are prevented from causing any damage and any damage that has already been caused is repaired.

There are many active constituents in grape seed, which are very powerful antioxidants. One of these ingredients is oligomeric procynanidin or OPC, which is very proficient in treating vascular diseases by actually causing an increase in the structural strength of the blood vessels that have weakened.

The very first oligomeric procynanidin or OPC was isolated in 1947 from the peanut’s red skin. This discovery was made by Dr. Jack Masquelier, a French chemist. In the ensuing years, red wine also started being used as a source for OPC.

It has been proved beyond doubt that antioxidant fruits are beneficial to health and well-being. However all antioxidant fruits do not provide the same level of health benefits. It could be said that some antioxidant fruits are more equal than others. They have a higher percentage of antioxidants and offer more health benefits than some of the other fruits. Some fruits may offer you nutrients along with antioxidant properties, while other fruit may have only vitamins.

The human body is designed to derive its energy requirements by utilizing oxygen as well as nutrients as fuel. However oxygen, though it does provide a lot of benefits and has a lot of positive effects, could possibly be accompanied by a negative ripple effect. When oxygen is processed in the body by a process known as oxidation, there is a simultaneous production of oxygen byproducts known as free radicals. The highly reactive free radicals may cause a certain amount of damage to cells. The antioxidant substances that are present in antioxidant fruits work by neutralizing these free radicals. In this process they are prevented from causing any damage.

The Benefits of Antioxidant Fruits

With so much being said in recent times about antioxidants and health benefits they provide people are becoming more and more aware of this radical substance. By now everybody knows that citrus fruits are rich in Vitamin C and apples have a high beta-carotene content. A daily diet that focuses on a high consumption of antioxidants helps give the body a stronger defense mechanism in its fight against free radicals and consequently oxidative stress, which is damage that free radicals cause. Many scientists have linked the process of oxidative stress to the development of degenerative and chronic diseases including cancer and heart disease.

Including cereals, vegetables and fruit in your diet give you additional benefits that you would not get if you took antioxidant supplements. Scientists suspect that this could be due to the fact that the consumption of antioxidant fruits in the form of food probably creates a combination of antioxidant substances that are lesser known but just as potent. These antioxidant combinations would probably have an effect that was far greater than that provided by any individual antioxidant supplement or any single nutrient.

In one of the recent Journal of Nutrition issues, the analysis of the antioxidant content of many different antioxidant fruits was published. According to the charts, strawberries, sour cherries, blue berries, crowberries, black currants, raspberries and black berries had the highest antioxidant content of all fruit in the berry family. Other important antioxidant fruits include grapefruit, plum, pomegranates, kiwi, lemon, orange, grape, dates, pineapple and Clementine. Broad beans were first in the list in the legume category, whereas walnuts occupied first place in the nuts category and sunflower seeds were second. Other foods that are rich in antioxidants include barley, red beets, kale, corn, red cabbage, ginger, chili pepper and millet.