Cherries: Pucker Power

Sweet cherries, the kind of cherries most of us enjoy fresh from a roadside stand on hot summer days, are low in fat, high in fiber and-if you believe a common folk remedy-able to help cure gout.

Yet, it’s actually the sweet cherry’s sour cousin-the sour cherry we usually bake into an all-American pie on the Fourth of July-that packs the most nutritional power.

Sour packed with three of the nutrients-beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E-usually referred to as antioxidants. Read more

Antioxidants and Disease Prevention

There’s a whole array of health benefits that may be possible from taking certain nutrients. “We used to think of vitamins strictly in terms of what you needed to prevent short-term deficiencies”, says Simon Nikbin Meydani, chief of the Nutritional Immunology Laboratory at the Research Center on Aging. “Now we’re starting to think about what the optimal level of vitamins is for lifelong health and the prevention of age-associated diseases.”

Much of the exiting news is about nutrients that act as antioxidants. In your body you have compounds known as free radicals. Read more

Memory-Boosting Meals

Turn back the clock with fruits and veggies

“It’s not the ‘60s. Beware of free radicals,” advise Dr. Gary Small in his book, The Memory Bible. He isn’t talking about hippies, but if you have trouble remembering back to those flower-power days, listen up.

Free radicals, Small points out, are oxidants that can do serious harm to your brain cells. Fortunately, vitamins C and E can help combat this damage. Read more

Free Radicals: Prevention and Health Problems

There are several types of free radicals, but the most common ones involve oxygen. Free radicals can be the result of many forms of pollution. Some researchers believe that the pain or inflammation experienced following a significant or particularly sustained effort tells of the damages caused to the tissues by an accumulation of free radicals.

Free Radicals and Intense Physical Exercise

Some studies have shown that athletes who are obliged to perform exercises requiring a lot of endurance are more often subject to colds or influenza following such efforts. Read more

Antioxidants For Your Health

For some years now, free radicals and antioxidants have been the subject of thorough scientific research, focused on the destructive effect of the first and the soothing effect of the second. The results of these studies confirm the benefits of vitamins and of antioxidant nutrients already widely in use among the advocates of naturopathy.  In this domain, the detrimental effects to the system of altered foods coming from crops that have been impoverished by chemical treatments (pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides) have been denounced for several years. Read more