Antioxidants protect your body against free radicals, so what are these two things? How do they effect our body?
Ill start with explaining about Free Radicals. A radical is an atom or molecule where it has an unpaired or imbalanced electron making it chemically reactive (oxidation) so what this atom or molecule then does is create mayhem in your body and on skin. Electrons like to be in pairs so the free radicals scavenge your body and skin find others like themselves and steel that electron, thus fore making that atom they have stolen the electron from, now a free racial itself and so the process starts again.
What can cause this imbalance, well things like air conditioning, UV rays - not just from sun but phones, TVs and computers also - processed sugars or foods, chemicals in cleaning products or products you use around the house, some skincare ingredients that have not had the irritant taken out of their formula, stress, smoking. These are only a few examples of what can start the cause of the imbalance but you get the idea of the types of things that are harmful.
So what happens to our body and skin when we have free radical damage? Free radicals can cause damage to our DNA, proteins and cell membranes and there is ongoing research that this could also be linked to cancer. So accelerated aging within body and on your skin is a given. It can cause heart disease, cognitive problems, mood problems, nervous disorders, hormonal issues, gut issues and imbalance of your microbiomes, pigmentation, collagen loss and lines.
This brings me to Antioxidants. They are your givers, your friendly atoms that decide to donate an electron to your free radical to stop the chain reaction of the scavenging. They are found in lots of foods such as citrus foods, berries, tomatoes, colourful vegetables, some meats, fish, onions, potatoes with skins on, nuts, teas such as green tea and cacao. Research shows that eating both fruit and vegetables together give a higher intake of antioxidants than taking an antioxidant in a supplement.
Not only eating these types of foods will help, but you now find a lot of these foods are in skincare ingredients and help your skin protect itself against these harsh environmental times. However, when looking at these in your skincare, ingredients, you should look for non irritating ingredients such as L-Ascorbic acid - which means the irritating part of Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) to the skin has been taken out.
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