What does oxidation mean?

Although chemically, there are various definitions of oxidation, usually related to an action or compound of oxygen, can be given in the simplest and most simple way "excessive oxidation for our body degeneration."
Everything that comes up as we age, wrinkles, skin patches, and others that occur internally and are not visible, come from the excessive oxidation of the body that deterioration as a rusting metal. And we don't want that right ? Or at least we can slow it down a bit.
The substances or the reasons that cause this process in humans are the inevitable radiation, smoking, food additives, various toxins that favor the growth of free radicals.

Free radicals are molecules that have lost an electron. In the process of oxygenation during food burning, oxygen molecules are constantly losing electrons by creating more and more free radicals that infect our genetic material, the cell can not resist and ultimately destroy.

The antioxidant mechanisms we have:

Fortunately, we are not defenseless against the threat of free radicals and various oxidants.

Types of antioxidants:

• The endogenous antioxidants, such as amino acids, enzymes, hormones, etc.,
• The large category of exogenous antioxidants that are amino acids and derivatives, carbohydrates, some vitamins, etc.
• The category of food, herbs, beverages and beverages to which infusions belong.

The best antioxidants

The basic antioxidants of beverages and especially of the tea are flavonoids. Particularly important are PPs, polymeric flavonoids rich in catechins, which are also divided into smaller subclasses in chemistry. What matters is that polymeric flavonoids can take part in many systems in the body, resulting in a number of health benefits, from blocking breast or prostate cancer cells to support for cardiovascular disease. Most researches were made in green tea that is richer in polymeric flavonoids. It comes from the Camelia sinensis plant and differs from the mountain tea. However, herb infusions have also been exemplified by their valuable help in protecting our health.

The treasures of nature

All herbs are valuable and they offer us a lot , but some of them offer us even more like green tea, dittany , sage, linden , peppermint, mountain tea, chamomile, Earl Gray tea that has been added with essential oils of bergamot and black tea. The valuable substances they possess are polyphenols. Some of them develop more antioxidant activity.

"The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) is a measure of the effectiveness of a substance in inhibiting a specific biological or biochemical function.
This quantitative measure indicates how much of a particular drug or other substance (inhibitor) is needed to inhibit a given biological process (or component of a process, i.e. an enzyme, cell, cell receptor or microorganism) by half. The values are typically expressed as molar concentration." (IC50 definition source Wikipedia )

The importance of classification what is worth looking at this comparative table is that some infusions with a high content of polyphenols do not have the corresponding antioxidant capacity.

• Variety of tea, more green tea, dittany and sage, always packed.
• daily quantity - 2 cups a day for 63 mg antioxidants
• lemon ? YES without limitation, because increases the antioxidant capacity of the beverage by about 45%
• sugar ? NO or at least avoid it as it is because it neutralizes beneficial action by destroying polyphenols.
• milk ? YES and NO because while giving some nutrients it degrades the beverage .
• honey ? YES because it enhances the antioxidant ability of the beverage and makes it pleasant.

Top 20 antioxidants foods

Scientists from the University of Boston have determined for each food a quantity of units (Orac unit) to measure its antioxidant capacity. Experts claims that every person should receive daily from 3,300 to 4,500 Orac units to create a shield from the oxidation

Top 20 antioxidants fruits

credits for the info graphics :
http://modernsurvivalblog.com
http://panosplatritis.com

Thanks for stopping by & i hope my article give you some new insights and why not some new eating habits !

-Rouketas