Antioxidants – What Are They And How Do They Lower Blood Pressure?
Basically antioxidants are a dietary substance that can greatly reduce the risk of high blood pressure by fighting free radicals in the blood vessels. What’s a free radical? Free radicals are another substance that cause damage to cells through oxidation.
Oxidative damage can lead to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and of course hypertension. Free radicals can damage the cells to the point that they are dysfunctional or die. Arteries become hardened and plaque builds up in veins. Blood pressure is increased when the heart has to pump the same volume of blood through stiffer vessels that are partially clogged. Obviously this puts a greater strain on the heart muscle as well as increasing pressure.
Enter the antioxidant that not only fights the free radicals but can repair the damage they do as well. It’s rather like an apple that has been freshly sliced and exposed to the air. It will turn brown quickly (free radical at work) unless you dip it in vitamin C rich orange juice antioxidant) and then it will remain white.
So where do we get these antioxidants. The best and cheapest source is at your local grocers produce aisle.
Foods rich in antioxidants include tomatoes, broccoli and peppers. Almost any bright colored fruit or vegetable will also be good sources particularly blueberries, carrots, apricots and bananas and oranges.
It’s important to note we are talking fresh food here not canned or frozen. Processed food loses a great deal of their nutrients and usually come with a megadose of sodium that offsets any benefit the food might have had in the beginning. Yes it is less convenient to prepare fresh, but don’t fool yourself that just because you had canned carrots with dinner you were getting the antioxidants you need. You didn’t.
A bonus for those of you who have a sweet tooth. Dark chocolate, not white chocolate or milk chocolate, is also rich in antioxidants.
So in short, the antioxidants are the good guys that help your heart and are abundantly available and the free radicals are the scourge of the vascular system. How many of the good guys do you have in your crisper or pantry at home right now?
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