Genetics, exposure to the sun, stress and bad habits such as smoking can cause your skin to age prematurely, but did you know free radicals can also play a part? And it’s not just your skin that they can affect, but also other aspects of your health and wellbeing.
Some free radicals naturally form and occur in your body. However, you can also be exposed to free radicals from various environmental sources, such as pollution, pesticides and cigarette smoke.
What Are Free Radicals?
Free radicals are unstable atoms that have a partial outer shell. This means they may bond with other atoms to try to stabilise themselves, using electrons from other atoms to try to complete their outer shell.
When this process occurs with oxygen molecules, that result can be oxidative stress. Although this can naturally occur, it can also be prompted by lifestyle factors, such as:
- Drinking too much alcohol
- Smoking
- Consuming large quantities of fried or processed food
- Exposure to toxic chemicals, including pesticides and air pollution
If you want to take control of free radicals and the effect they could be having on your health and wellbeing, try to avoid these factors and replace them with healthier habits.
How Free Radicals Affect the Body
As your body begins to age, it loses its ability to fight off the effects of free radicals, and can bring some complications, such as loss of skin elasticity, wrinkles, grey hairs, hair loss and changes to the texture of your hair.
How to Fight the Effects of Free Radicals
Protecting yourself from the effects of free radicals is so important to keep your body and mind looking and feeling their best. One easy and effective way to minimise the effects of free radicals is to increase the levels of antioxidants in your diet.
Eating your recommended five portions of fruits and vegetables per day is a simple way to do this. Fruit and veg are full of antioxidants that can not only help to fight the effects of free radicals, but also deliver many other health and wellbeing benefits.
Examples of antioxidant-rich foods include:
- Berries
- Cherries
- Citrus fruits
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Tomatoes
- Fish
- Onions
- Garlic
Where to Find Free Radical-Fighting Antioxidants
At Garden of Life, we’ve got several products that contain natural antioxidants, as well as essential vitamins and nutrients to help you to stay in good health.
Vitamin E is one of the most common antioxidants and it’s something that your body cannot produce by itself. Therefore, supplements such as our Vitamin Code Raw Vitamin E Capsules can help to mitigate the effects of oxidation on the body, protecting the cells from oxidative stress. These supplements also contain vitamins A, D, K and selenium.
