Vital Wellness

There’s no doubt that antioxidants play an important role in almost every function of the body, but scientists have been zeroing in on antioxidants’ ability to defend against respiratory illnesses, such as allergies and asthma. Researchers found out where very few children suffer with allergies. They surveyed 690 chil­dren between the ages of 7 and 18 and gathered data from questionnaires that were completed by their parents.

The researchers discovered that those who ate fresh foods high in antioxidants, such as grapes, oranges, tomatoes, and nuts, were less likely to have wheezing and other respiratory symptoms. In yet another British study of over 2,500 middle-aged men, those who ate five apples a week had greater lung functioning than those who ate no apples. The researchers believed that healthy compounds found in apples, like anti­oxidants, have allergy-fighting effects. Read the rest of this entry »

Although alcohol devastates the body both directly as a toxin and indirectly through nutrient loss, scientists suspect that it may also affect the body’s natural antioxidant defenses.

Alcohol Abuse In Pregnacy

Antioxidants are substances that protect your body’s healthy molecules against damage by unstable molecules called free radicals. Heavy alcohol use not only increases the production of free radicals, but it also depletes stores of antioxidants, like vitamins C and E. That means that while those nasty rogue molecules are increasing exponentially, the natural warriors needed to fight them off are decreasing rapidly. This imbal­ance is called “oxidative stress.” Read the rest of this entry »