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.

Over the years man has depended on nature as his main source of nutrients that are essential for his well being and good health. Plants are the main source of our food as well as our medicines and we depend on them almost completely so that the body can develop to its full potential while at the same time also decreasing the incidences of degenerative diseases.

Scientists have recently discovered the substance that is responsible for some of the many health benefits that man has been deriving from plants. Vegetables as well as fruits appear to contain certain chemical substances that react with specific, harmful molecules that are present in our bodies and stop them from causing any damage to our cells. These substances have come to be named natural oxidants because they mainly work on free radicals, which are by-products of oxygen.

The body is protected against free radicals by natural oxidants. Of the many functions that natural antioxidants perform, one of them is to prevent the occurrence of cellular damage that is brought about by free radicals. The oxidation process that our body undergoes when we breathe produces chemical substances that are highly reactive. These chemical substances are called free radicals.

When they are released, free radicals immediately get latched onto other molecules and steal their electrons. This results in the molecules turning as unstable as the free radicals themselves. A rapid chain reaction soon ensues and if left unattended this can lead to numerous other degenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, memory loss, cancer, Parkinson’s disease and stroke.

The primary sources of natural antioxidants are plants. The human body is incapable of producing the natural oxidants that it needs. That is the reason why we are solely dependant on our diet so that our body gets the necessary amount of antioxidants.

Some of the more well-known natural antioxidant groups include carotenoids, indoles, coumarins and catechins. All of these are complex compounds and are present in almost all plants. Carotenoids form the biggest group of antioxidants that occur naturally, closely followed by coumarins and indoles. Catechins are antioxidants that occur naturally in the plant Camellia sinensis, which gives us our black tea, oolong tea as well as green tea.

The most commonly found and well-known natural antioxidant within the carotenoid group is Beta- carotene. Another name for the antioxidant Beta –carotene is Vitamin A, which is an essential vitamin that plays an important role in preventing damage to the eye. This natural antioxidant provides support to the immune system, increases lung capacity, supports healthy levels of cholesterol and potentially reduces the risk of skin damage from sun exposure. Some studies have been done that prove beta-carotene is also good for a healthy heart.

The natural antioxidants that are present in catechins help promote health by giving the immune system a boost thereby lowering the chances of infection. Catechins are also great inducers of weight loss.

Antioxidants have in recent times become a hugely popular buzzword. Everybody seems to credit antioxidants with curing many different conditions including aging and cancer.

So what exactly are these antioxidants that everybody’s talking about? How do they help strengthen or heal the human body? The theory behind the working of antioxidants is easy to understand but there is still some controversy regarding their efficacy.

The human body produces energy by metabolizing oxygen. This metabolic process forms free radicals as a natural by-product. Free radicals are individual atoms or sometimes groups of atoms that have unbalanced or unpaired electrons. These free radicals are volatile particles and they rob electrons from other molecules and cells within the body, sometimes causing cell damage that manifests itself as disease and aging.

Having free radicals present in the body is quite normal. It is when there are excessive quantities that significant harm can be done. It is well known that exposure to pollution, excessive sunlight, radiation, smoking and alcohol exaggerates the effects caused by free radicals and could lead to serious illness and/or premature aging.

Damage done by free radicals has serious consequences. Some of the negative effects of free radicals include:

* The aging process is speeded up
* Hardening of arteries (arteriosclerosis) and other cardiovascular diseases. When Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol reacts with free radicals it tends to adhere to the arterial walls. LDL is also known as bad cholesterol and is one of the major causes of Coronary Heart Disease.
* The lenses in the eyes start deteriorating leading to failing eyesight.
* The breakdown in cells that are present in the nervous system results in diseases like Dementia and Parkinson’s.
* Cell DNA undergoes changes that eventually lead to certain cancers.
* Inflammation in the joints causing arthritis.

When free radicals get mopped up by antioxidants, the impact that they have on cells gets neutralized. The foods that we eat contain varying degrees of naturally found antioxidants. Beta-carotene, Vitamin E, Vitamin C and the mineral Selenium are some oxidants that are most commonly known. Besides these, there are numerous other compounds that do the function of antioxidants. Anthocyanins and lycopene are two such compounds, which have been categorized as non-nutrient antioxidants. These non-nutrient antioxidants have little or no value nutritionally but it is their antioxidant properties that make them valuable.

Tests that have been conducted on animals have shown that there is a clear link between the use of antioxidants and a decrease in the onset of diseases. The connection between antioxidants and diseases is not so clear in humans and has not yet been fully established. However certain anecdotal evidence points to the fact that lycopene-rich tomatoes may possible reduce the incidence of prostrate cancer and flavenoid-rich green tea could lower the rate of heart disease.

The results of recently conducted clinical studies have largely been inconclusive and inconsistent. Some of the inconsistencies include:
* Chinese women and men who underwent treatment with a combination of Beta-carotene, Vitamin E and Selenium had a lower incidence of cancers including gastric cancer.
* The incidence of lung cancer was significantly increased in male Finnish smokers who were given Beta-carotene and supplements of Vitamin E appeared to have had no impact.