Showing posts with label Antioxidant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Antioxidant. Show all posts

Lutein antioxidant for the eye

Posted by Admin Monday, 1 November 2010

There are so many health supplement nowadays and people just can't get enough of it. There is this one eye supplement that has been trying make a name in my country, I'm not going to tell the brand, but what is important to me is to know exactly what makes this supplement, different from the other ones, What is it that make it work? and does it have any side effects? and stuff like that. So, What is Lutein?

Lutein is another antioxidant that is one of the caretenoids these are pigments that are usually found in different types of vegetables and fruits, such as squash, carrots, mangoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, corn and dark, leafy vegetables like those of kale, collards, bok choy and spinach. but what exactly does lutein does to help us?

Studies indicate that lutein plays a vital role in reducing the risk of AMD or also known as Age-related Macular Degeneration and can also help slow down the progression of the disease. Lutein deposits in the macular - the part of the eye that controls accurate vision - and helps filter out harmful blue light which stops it from reaching and damaging the sensitive back tissue of the retina, effectively acting as natural sunglasses.
A lot of people may not need to take any supplements like Lutein, especially if they have well balanced diet and a higher intake of lutein-rich foods, but for those people with serious eye problems, a supplement wouldn't hurt. but better check your doctor first.

Alpha Lipoic Acid an Antioxidant

Posted by Admin Thursday, 14 October 2010

I'm very much interested with ALpha Lipoic Acid. It was first introduced to me be a colleague way back 6 years ago. I've heard of it when I was young but I wasn't that interested. This friend of mine told me that it helped her made her skin supple and glowing. I really thought it was just another food supplement in the market today that was just looking for some popularity. For those who have no idea.

Alpha-lipoic acid, is an antioxidant. And it is commonly called as lipoic acid or thioctic acid, This food supplement were once only known to help diabetics because it helps to stabilizes blood sugar. But after few years of continued research and studies it shows a lot more benefits.This powerful antioxidant is a fat and water soluble, it means it can get into or penetrate into our body well, making it easy to protect against free radicals. It simply help to detoxify our body.

And speaking of detoxification, ALpha Lipoic Acid helps glutathione to work like wonders. ALA also makes Vitamin E and Vitamin C works efficiently. You can get ALA in different foods such as Spinach, Brewer's yeast, liver etc. We do have ALA in our body but if you want to make the most out of it you really have to take a supplement, You can always ask your doctor.

Dragon Fruit: Exotic Health Food

Posted by Admin Sunday, 8 August 2010

Another healthy food to add in your healthy diet is Dragon fruit. This dragon fruit is really new to me, but i know that it has been in the American/ Asian market for ages. I'm just curious how so many people in my country are now getting into this, This fruit was originally from Mexico,South America, Vietnam,Taiwan and South East Asian Countries. And whenever a new and healthy food is out I always make it a point to try that "something new to me" food and prove it to my self.

So here's another one on my list, Dragon fruit. So what exactly is a dragon fruit? This unusual looking fruit, brightly colored and named Dragon fruit is also known as Pitaya. I heard there's a story behind why it's called Dragon fruit, but don't know the exact story.

At first, i found the fruit a little scary, because it reminded me of the plant from that movie" little shop of horrors " the plant that feeds on human blood and flesh. hahaha! (I'm sorry but i was six then, and even though it was a comedy movie it scared the hell out of me.) But this fruit won't eat you but you will eat this fruit.

This healthy food is rich in vitamins and minerals especially vitamin C. Here are the rest of the nutrients that you can get from the dragon fruit.


Protein, Niacin

Fiber,Iron

Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Calcium, Vitamin A

It also has antioxidants, and we all know how antioxidant helps our body to prevent certain diseases or even cancer. This is one vitamin-packed fruit.The dragon fruit is best eaten by cutting the fruit in half and scooping the flesh out, like eating a sherbet. And best eaten when chilled. It has a refreshingly sweet taste. SO the next time you're looking for a new and healthy fruit to eat. Look for the dragon fruit. The name is too big to forget.

3 Health tips to Add more years to your life

Posted by Admin Friday, 11 June 2010

Healthy food and exercise? People are doing anything just to look young feel young or just to extend their live. There are three things you shouldn't take for granted and you never know it might just add up more years to your life without actually knowing it.

1.Drink tea for a longer life-Green tea has long been touted for its high levels of antioxidants and other healthy nutrients; now a large study shows that drinking a couple of cups of the beverage daily might actually extend your life. Researchers tracked some 40,000 Japanese men and women for up to 11 years and found out that those who drank warm green tea daily had lower death rates than those who didn't.

2. Work out, stay sharp. - Exercise not only keeps your body trim , It can also keep your brain young. Starting in your 40's mental functioning naturally drops off, making it harder to remember phone numbers, for example, or to multi task. But aerobic exercise for three hours a week can slow the decline.

3. Think positive- Everybody has different problems and worries that make us think think and think not knowing that we are actually stressing ourselves, Try to think positive in everything you do. be happy! Healthy body can never be healthy without healthy mind.

Health Benefits of Carrots

Posted by Admin Sunday, 31 May 2009

Carrots, Bugs Bunny's favorite food, it has been considered to improve our vision. I still remember what my grandmother always tell us when we where kids, that if we want to have a good vision or we don't want to wear reading glasses early is that we should always it some carrots for better vision. Carrot is rich in beta-carotene. A substances in the body will be converted into vitamin A, vitamin, which is very important for the function of our Retina. Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds, and the richest vegetable source of the pro-vitamin A carotene's. Carrots' antioxidant compounds help protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer and also promote good vision, especially night vision. However, vitamin A will not treat blindness and vision can only improve if the vision problems are not caused by lack of vitamin A. In addition to a role as pro-vitamin A, beta-carotene as protective against cancer because it is an antioxidant.

Antioxidant is a compound that can neutralize free radicals: unstable molecule produced by various chemical processes normal body, or by solar radiation, cigarette smoke, and the influence of other environment.

In the body, the majority originating from free radical complex chemical process used when the oxygen in the cells. Radical free-radical chemicals that are not complete it can "steal" of particles from the molecule-molecule to another. He then produces a compound-rocker compound and create a chain reaction that can damage cells, by making fundamental changes in the genetic material and important parts of other cells.

Simply, the way of free radical damage to cells with the same oxygen causes paper changed color yellow or become rancid butter. In addition to the beta-carotene, carrots also contain antioxidants fenolat acid.

Studies have been conducted widely in humans show that the pattern of food that included carrot, despite the small amount, per day can reduce the incidence lung cancer around 50 percent.

1. Lower cholesterol

Can also help lower blood cholesterol. Research shows, the consumption of fresh carrot / raw 200 grams a day for three weeks can reduce blood cholesterol rate of 11 percent.
It means one percent decrease in cholesterol synonymous with heart disease risk reduction of approximately two percent. So, strictly with the carrot for three weeks, the risk of heart disease is estimated to gain can be reduced 22 percent.

2. Lower risk of stroke

Addition to reducing the risk of heart disease, carrots can reduce the risk of suffering stroke. Eating carrots, at least five times each week can reduce the risk of stroke affected 68 percent of the carrot one time, or less than, a month.

That large-scale research findings of Harvard University, U.S., conducted on almost 90,000 female nurses for eight years.

Harvard previous study found that consume extra beta-carotene contained in carrots around one and a half days each stem can reduce the likelihood of stroke by 40 percent. This decline is clearly on those who consume beta-carotene 15-20 mg per day versus those who consume beta-carotene only 6 mg.

When analyzing the blood of 80 patients within 24 hours after stroke affected, the researchers found, patients with stroke in the amount of vitamin A on average, including beta-carotene, have more opportunities to survive (survival), have fewer neurological damage, and recover the same once.


3. Cooked more absorbed

The rate of beta-carotene contained in carrots (754 ) almost two times more than the content of beta-carotene in the kangkungs (380 ) and three times more than the content of beta-carotene in the leaves caisins (286 ).
Beta-carotene found in carrots is higher than that found in spinach (409 ). The more orange color of carrots, the higher the rate of beta-carotene carrot.


To maintain vitamin astringent-carrot maximum, rubbing / brush it carrot, peeled do not, unless the skin is very hard or have been damaged / disability.

4. Choosing carrot

carrots that look fresh, firm, smooth and shapely with interesting color. Avoid carrots that cracked, wrinkled / wrinkled, or rubbery. At the time of purchase carrot that the top of the green still cling, make sure the green looks fresh.

Keep the carrot in the refrigerator. Should release the green / stored before the first cut.

5. Carrot juice benefits

Carrot juice is also good to drink pregnant women.

Beta Carotene content of the fruit is also anti-oxidants, a good candidate for mother and baby. In addition, anti-oxidants also help slow the aging process. Other fruits rich anti-oxidants are the berry. Both these fruits can be blended together or separately.

Tips Benefits Carrot juice

- Carrot juice as a useful anti-inflammatory and invigorate the skin.

- Carrot juice can help prevent cancer

- Carrot juice to help take the spots in the skin

- Carrot juice consumed each day able to overcome the rough skin pigmentation .

Maybe for some people, carrot juice feel uncomfortable, but good for our health and harmless to try.

Moringa or Malungggay is not your ordinary green leafy vegetables. According to Dr. Lydia M. Marero of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Philippines:
Called “Malunggay” in the Philippines, “Sajina” in the Indian Subcontinent, and “Moringa” in English, is a popular tree. Malunggay, known scientifically as Moringa oleifera Lamk, is one of the world's most useful plants. It is used as food, effective flocculant or water treatment, antibiotic, source of oil, and coagulant for turbid waters.
It is also called mother's best friend, and miracle vegetable by many who know malunggay's beneficial uses. It is cultivated in all countries of the tropics. It is easy to plant and is available year-round.

Malunggay's (Moringa) image was even used as the official logo of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, an agency of the Department of Science and Technology here in the Philippines
One hundred grams or 1 cup of cooked malunggay leaves contain:
  • 3.1 g. protein
  • 0.6 g. fiber
  • 96 mg calcium
  • 29 mg phosphorus
  • 1.7 mg iron
  • 2,820 mg ß-carotene
  • 0.07 mg thiamine
  • 0.14 mg riboflavin
  • 1.1 mg niacin
  • 53 mg ascorbic acid or vitamin C.

The antioxidant activity of malunggay is about 71%, with µ-tocopherol (vitamin E) equivalent of 45.
Malunggay leaves are an excellent source of vitamin A and B, and minerals such as calcium and iron. It is even an excellent source of protein, being higher than the amino acid pattern of Food and Agriculture Organization-reference protein, yet contains very low fat and carbohydrates. The leaves are incomparable as a source of the sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cystine, often the natural minerals humans lack.
Due to its high vitamins A, C, and E, which are very potent antioxidants, malunggay is a very good quencher of unstable free radicals that can react with and damage molecules that cause aging. Antioxidants reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. They also prevent the onset of various chronic diseases like arthritis, cancer, and heart and kidney diseases.
Malunggay contains the phytochemical niaziminin, which is found to have molecular components that can prevent the development of cancer cells (Faizi et al., 1992) and correlated with inhibitory ability against superoxide generation. The first naturally-occuring thiocarbamates, novel hypotensive agents niazinin A, niazinin B, niazimicin and niaziminin A and B were isolated from malunggay.
Malunggay(Moringa) is called miracle vegetable because it is not just a food, it is also a medicine. It may therefore be a functional food. Malunggay promotes:
  • good eyesight
  • digestion
  • facilitates bowel movement
  • cure for stomach ache.
It is also used to cleanse wounds and ulcers. It helps alleviate scurvy, asthma, earache, and headaches. For its high calcium content, lactating mothers are advised to eat malunggay leaves to produce more milk.
Malunggay (Moringa) is usually cooked with chicken as tinola, or with fish and other vegetables, mongo soup dishes, and blanched as salads.
For daily herbal medicinal use, just prepare malunggay tea which is about 1 cup leaves boiled in 1 and 1/2 glass of water. Drink this daily. You can improve the taste by adding lemon grass (tanglad) or pandan leaves. A single preparation can be stored up to 2 days in a thermos bottle, however, a fresh preparation is always recommended.

Search Amazon.com Health/PersonalCare for moringa products

10 things you have to know about tea

Posted by Admin Wednesday, 6 August 2008


Tea is the second most widely consumed beverages in the world, second only to water.
A Cup of Hot Tea = A Cup of Good Health
want to know why? here are the ten things we didn't know about tea:

1. Tea keeps us hydrated -We all know the drill: an adult should consume about eight to ten glass of liquid a day. Squeeze in two to three cups of tea daily to help satisfy your body daily water requirement.

2. Tea keep us on shape - If you're dying to shed off unwanted pounds, tea might just do the trick. It helps burn fat and calories and increases your body's metabolism.

3. Tea keeps us alert - Tea has been shown to increase alertness and improve our concentration. When the heart and the respiratory systems are stimulated by caffeine, it brings more oxygen to the brain.

4. Tea keeps our teeth strong - Perfect smiles are not merely the work of toothpaste. Tea contains fluoride which benefits your teeth by keeling bacteria and controlling bad breath and plaque formation.

5. Tea keeps our bones healthy - Keep your bones healthy, a substance in tea called flavonoids help build strong bones and increase bone mineral densities.

6. Tea keeps our heart healthy - Lower the risk of heart disease by drinking tea. It improves the function of endothelia, the inner lining of all blood cells such as the arteries and veins.

7. Tea ups our immunity - Whenever we feel a cold coming on , do ourselves a favor and reach out a cup of tea. An amino acid in tea called theanine activates cells involved in the body's first line of defense, reducing the risk of infection.

8. Tea is an anti-inflammatory - This is good for injury and arthritis patients. Catechins in may be prophylactic for arthritis and bone injuries by reducing swelling and slowing cartillage break down.

9. Tea fights free radicals - Tea's high level of anti-oxidants called polyphenois, flavonoids, and catechins wage war on so called "free radicals" in the body and prevent them from harming your healthy cells.

10. Tea helps fight cancer - One of the best cancer fighters you can put in your body is tea. Its antioxidant properties keep cells healthy and inhibit an enzyme which cancer cells need in order to grow.

Benefits of Green Tea

Posted by Admin Saturday, 26 July 2008

{{en}}Green tea leaves steeping in an uncovere...Image via Wikipedia Green Tea has proven itself that it has plenty of health benefits, has been proven that green tea is bursting with health benefits. It serves as a good source of antioxidant, which has been known to help prevent cancer, recover from the harmful cholesterol, and protect against damage caused by free radicals. Green tea can give more benefits to health than other teas, because of the way it is dried. Green tea is organically grown and the traditional drying technique used with Green tea prevents the tea from the negative effects of fermentation.


Medical Benefits:

Impaired Immune Function
Infection
Rheumatoid Arthritis,
High Cholesterol,
Cardiovascular Disease,
Cancer,

Green tea has many medical benefits, that only some of its benefits, here are the others:

Green tea can even help prevent tooth decay! Just as its bacteria-destroying abilities can help prevent food poisoning, it can also kill the bacteria that causes dental plaque. Meanwhile, skin preparations containing green tea - from deodorants to creams - are starting to appear on the market.
Reduce smoking risks- cigarette smokers who drink up to six cups of green tea daily reduces their susceptibility to risks caused by the toxins emitted in cigarette smoke.

Beauty remedy- green tea may be used to freshen up the face and sooth tired or strained eyes. It can be applied to spots and blemishes to lessen their visibility.

Helps weight loss- the leaves of green tea plants help raise metabolism in the body. By increasing the amount of calories burned in a 24-hour period, green tea promotes weight loss.

Stop bad breath- an element found in green tea decreases the growth of odor-causing bacteria. It is said that drinking a cup or two of green tea may help maintain fresh breath.

Green teas inhibit the expression of antigens made by the body, substances that can trigger an immune response.

National Cancer Institute reports that Green Tea has Cancer preventing abilities and Cancer fighting components add new life to the market. People who have relied on expensive anti-oxidant products are finding that Green Tea is very economical and all natural. Tea is one of the top selling consumable drinks, only topped by water