FREE RADICAL GENERATION IN THE BODY

So now that we gathered how important antioxidants are to your body, let see what promotes the production of free radicals in our bodies. While many of the normal cellular processes produce metabolites that are free radicals there are certain foods that increase the production of these toxic metabolites. Eating food deep fried in vegetable oils (ghee is best for deep frying) produces a lot of free radicals as vegetable oils are unstable and breakdown at high temperatures. Hydrogenation of vegetable oils to produce shortening releases many free radicals, that's why any food with trans-fat or hydrogenated fat has a lot of free radicals in it. Eating a lot of processed foods with artificial preservatives and chemicals releases free radicals in the body. So one must avoid deep fried, processed and foods with trans-fat. Also exposure of skin to UV rays from the sun produces free radicals that attack the skin cells and destroy collagen, the essential protein that gives our skin the 'elasticity' needed to stay supple and young.This is what causes the formation of wrinkles in the skin. In the next article I'll discuss how to combat free-radical attack on the skin to prevent the formation of wrinkles. Stay tuned until the next time...