Saturday, December 27, 2008

Green Tea's antioxidant

By Collin James

You have heard of the power behind green tea being it's antioxidant and the power to increase it in the human body right? Do you know exactly what an antioxidant is and what it can do for you?

Antioxidants don't work against oxygen. They fight against a chemical reaction called oxidation, this is the same process that turns bananas black and rusts metal. Oxidation is the interaction between oxygen molecules and the substances they come in contact with. When that substance happens to be living tissue, damage and disease can occur.

The harm caused by oxidation, is result of free radicals, highly reactive, unstable molecules that travel around the body wreaking havoc. Although free radicals can be generated by exposure to UV rays, toxins, cigarette smoke, microbes and other sources, the most common source is the oxygen molecule itself.

Oxygen usually travels through your body paired up with another oxygen molecule. In some cases this pairing splits into two individual oxygen molecules called singlet oxygen. When this occurs, electrons fall in short demand as there are now to many oxygen molecules. This destabilizes the molecule and in a way, throwing it off balance. In the attempt to try and fix itself it races through the body trying to find an other electron.

The single molecule does not just sit around waiting for another electron to become available, what this little bugger does is it goes around and find ones to steal. So what happens to the molecule that just had it's electron stolen, well, it goes and steals it's own from another molecule. This process of stealing back and forth causes damage to the cells and it often though to be a leading contributor to cancer, heart disease and aging.

Now, this is where having antioxidants come into play. What antioxidants do is donate an electron to the lonely free radicals so they no longer have to steel electrons to feel balanced. Your body does produce antioxidants on its own, but not early enough to aid all the free radicals. That's where green tea can help you a lot,

Among others, these include beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, the mineral selenium, and various phytochemicals such as lycopene and quercetin. But the catechins, especially EGCg, are among the most powerful and effective antioxidants of all. - 16650

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