Free radicals are created as by products when every cells in our body burns oxygen with food to create energy.

Free radicals are mainly oxygen molecules or atoms that have at least one unpaired electron. They move violently in the cells and cause damage to cell membrane, DNA and anything along their path.

The process of damage free radicals create is called oxidative stress.  Oxidative stress is the underlying cause of 70 chronic degenerative diseases and cancer. They are developed as a result of oxidative stress over a long period of time. Examples of the top chronic diseases are:

•  Coronary heart diseases
• Diabetes
• Arthritis
• Parkinson’s disease
• Lupus.

The number of free radicals produced in our body varies everyday. Some days more free radicals are produced than other days. Our stressful lifestyle, environmental pollution, radiation and over medication create more free radicals compared to the previous generation.

The antidote to free radicals is Antioxidants. Antioxidants are compounds that have the ability to give up electron to the free radicals and balance out the unpaired electron, thus stabilizing them. The key is to have more antioxidants than there are free radicals. When that happens, the damages by free radicals will be prevented.

Our body produce it’s own antioxidants. They are superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxide. But our body does not produce all the antioxidants we need to counter the free radicals generated. So, they have to come from what we eat from food and or nutritional supplements.

A diet high in colorful fruits and vegetables provide extra antioxidants our bodies need. Some of the fruits and vegetables are superfoods with higher than normal level of antioxidants. However, due to the toxins in our environment today, along with the depleted nutrients we received from highly processed foods, the scale tip towards more free radicals.

We need to add nutritional supplements to provide the level of antioxidants our body need. The common nutritional supplements antioxidants are Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Co-enzyme Q10, Alpha Lipoic acid. With the development in the wellness industry, you can get many different types of antioxidants to support the level needed in the body to counter the free radicals.

Can we be overdose on nutritional supplements of antioxidants? Considering the free radicals we are exposed to and generated in our body, I think not.

Are you taking nutritional supplements? Share with me in the comment box below.

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