Many a family doctor Phoenix has been asked questions about antioxidants and if they are important or is this just the latest fad. These are good questions and to help answer them the federal government put together a special panel to better define dietary antioxidants.
What the panel was able to determine is that antioxidants are found in foods that greatly decrease the adverse effects of free radicals on normal physiological human functions. This may or may not be a clear definition and there is still a debate as to the benefits to human beings. You may want to talk to your family doctor Phoenix and get their opinion. However, much of the evidence that is now available indicates that there are many foods that help to prevent premature aging that seems to be caused by oxidative stress. If you can protect your cells from damaged brought on by environmental pollutants you may be able to prevent cancer and other life threatening diseases. Being able to get your antioxidants from a natural source like fresh fruits and vegetables is better and safer than getting it from a synthetic form.
Your family doctor Phoenix could be on either side of the debate on the effects of antioxidants on human cells. Scientists know what the effects of the compounds are on plants, but the research results for humans have varied. The one undisputed fact is that people who eat a variety of different colored vegetables and fruits are less likely to develop chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
There are many people who, in addition to a multi-vitamin, take additional individual vitamins for various personal issues. You hear many different things each day and it seems to change daily. Having a family doctor Phoenix who is up to speed on the latest information and who is willing to sit down with you and go over that information is helpful.
There are also concerns about our food supply as well. With our current farming practices the nutritional content of our food is actually less than it was a few decades ago. This is just another reason some people feel like they need to take supplements to get all the nutrition and antioxidants they need.
Before you begin filling your cabinets with all kinds of different supplements you may want to ask your family doctor Phoenix their opinion. They may even want to do a blood test to see if you could benefit from supplements. Vitamin C seems to be one of the safer antioxidant vitamins you can take because your body cannot store it. What it doesn’t need it will just flush out. This is not true of all supplements. In some cases you can do your body harm by taking too much of some vitamins because your body will store what it can’t use and it becomes detrimental. Another thing to be cautious of is the supplements themselves. Not all supplements are the same and you want to be sure you are purchasing quality products and one that can be absorbed by the body. You would be wasting your money by purchasing something that will just pass through your body and never be absorbed. There are some people of the belief that liquid type vitamins are the best.