Fat Loss 4 Idiots Opinion

Monday, March 9, 2009

Green Tea's antioxidant

By Collin James

You have heard of the power behind green tea being it's antioxidant and the power to increase it in the human body right? Do you know exactly what an antioxidant is and what it can do for you?

Antioxidants don't work against oxygen. They fight against a chemical reaction called oxidation, this is the same process that turns bananas black and rusts metal. Oxidation is the interaction between oxygen molecules and the substances they come in contact with. When that substance happens to be living tissue, damage and disease can occur.

Free Radicals with in your body are highly unstable molecules that travel around your body causing nothing but major problems. Free radicals are generated by exposure to UV rays, toxins,smoking and other sources. The major source of the free radicals is from the oxygen molecule its self.

Oxygen usually travels through your body paired up with another oxygen molecule. In some cases this pairing splits into two individual oxygen molecules called singlet oxygen. When this occurs, electrons fall in short demand as there are now to many oxygen molecules. This destabilizes the molecule and in a way, throwing it off balance. In the attempt to try and fix itself it races through the body trying to find an other electron.

The molecule does not just wait for a spare electron to pop up, but what it does is it steals one from another molecule. The problem keeps reoccurring over and over again. The process is what causes cells to be damaged, and the entire body system gets effected by it. This is believed to be the major cause of cancer, heart disease and aging.

Antioxidants work against "electron stealing" by neutralizing and stabilizing free radicals. They do this by donating an electron so that singlet oxygen and other free radicals no longer have the urge to "steal." And while the body does produce a certain amount of antioxidants for the express purpose of taking care of such problems, it also needs the added help of antioxidants found in foods.

Among others, these include beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, the mineral selenium, and various phytochemicals such as lycopene and quercetin. But the catechins, especially EGCg, are among the most powerful and effective antioxidants of all. - 17269

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