Antioxidant supplements for sun lovers

Antioxidant supplements are used for all sorts of health reasons, but can also be used for those people wanting extra protection when outdoors exposed to the suns' potentially harmful UV rays.

What's extra great to learn is that even chocolate - dark chocolate of course - is really high in antioxidants. Yay!

What are antioxidant supplements?

Antioxidants are chemicals that interact with and neutralize free radicals, thus preventing them from causing damage. Antioxidants are therefore also known as “free radical scavengers” and are available as supplements either in the food you eat or actual supplementation.

People with low levels of antioxidant supplements in their diets or antioxidants in their bloodstream are more likely to develop certain cancers. By comparison, people who eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables cut their risk of getting cancer in half.

Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have made a fascinating discovery about the synergistic effects of certain fruit and vegetable compounds on preventing skin cancer.

Even some frozen foods contain antioxidants so can be seen as an antioxidant supplement.

Antioxidant supplement - Resveratrol

Apart from dark chocolate, another fabulous antioxidant supplement for me is red wine, as it contains resveratrol, which has been shown in various studies to be particularly effective in preventing and treating cancer.

"In controlled studies, resveratrol has been shown to reduce skin cancer tumors by up to 98 % and to stop production of leukemia cells," explains Jon Barron in his book "Lessons from The Miracle Doctors: A step-by-step Guide to Optimum Health and Relief from Catastrophic Illness".

"In addition, it works as a Cox inhibitor, thus halting the spread of cancer throughout the body" he said.

Chocolate and red wine - Yum!

Antioxidant supplement - Beta Carotene

great source of beta carotene

There are various studies out there that have proven that antioxidants supplements in powder or pill form do not really provide the protection for your heart the way that antioxidants from food manage to do.

Foods rich in carotenoids, including beta carotene, could reduce your risk of a heart attack quite substantially according to the evidence out there.

However, beta carotene as an antioxidant supplement either in pills or food format, will help to protect you against various cancers which include:

• esophageal
• liver
• pancreatic
• colon
• rectal
• prostate
• ovarian
• cervical
  

Food sources of antioxidant supplements

Melons for antioxidant supplementation

There are many wonderful food sources of beta carotene as an antioxidant supplement, including:

• pumpkin
• butternut squash
• sweet potato
• carrot
• tomato
• red bell peppers
• asparagus
• bok choi
• apricot
• mango
• orange
• cantaloupe
• papaya
• watermelon

Less obvious sources of beta carotene are: spinach, kale, and collards. 

To increase the beta carotene obtained from any of these foods, mix them with quality oils rather than a fat free substance. You could eat the healthiest salad piled high with carrots, leafy greens, and other high-carotenoid foods, but if you pour on a fat-free dressing or none at all, you will not absorb any disease-fighting carotenoids.

So use oils like coconut or olive as dressings on salads, or in a stir fry.

Antioxidant supplements for solar radiation protection

Naturally derived antioxidants for natural solar protection have been around since way before sunscreen became the big thing where sun protection is concerned.

Mother nature's very own solar radiation antidote can be found in many great antioxidants. Their powerful molecules not only work well in preventing cellular damage throughout the body, they also protect the skin from radiation damage, whether in the more commonly protected Ultraviolet (UV) form, or the Near Infra Red (NIR) range, which is receiving some recent attention where solar protection is concerned.

This on its own makes their protection capabilities far more powerful than the limited protection offered by many of the chemical sunscreens, or even the mineral sunscreens which cover a wider UV spectrum.

It is actually the harmful changes that occur at a cellular level when we stay in the sun too long, that the antioxidant supplements will prevent. That's exciting motivation indeed.

References for antioxidant supplements:

Natural News

International Society of Antioxidants in Nutrition and Health (INSAH):

• Oral strategies that could increase the skin antioxidant defence system from within - Professor J Krutmann from the University of Dusseldorf, Germany.
• Targeting skin mitochondria with antioxidants as a potential strategy to fight against skin ageing - Dr T Blatt from Beiersdorf.
• Latest advances in antioxidant ingredients that have been known for some time, such as resveratrol and pomegranate.