Understanding Antioxidants

Antioxidants; whether you’re a health nut or a couch potato, chances are you’ve heard of them, and how you should either be eating foods that contain them for better health or using skincare products that feature them for their anti-aging benefits. But what exactly are antioxidants, and why are they so important? Here’s a quick guide.

To understand antioxidants, you’ve got to first understand what they’re fighting, and that’s oxidation. Think of oxidation as cellular aging, something that’s exacerbated by a compound called free radicals. Free radicals are the bad guys – highly reactive compounds that attach to and ultimately damage healthy cells in your body. They can be formed due to external triggers like smoking, pollution or stress, but the body also generates them internally.

When we eat or drink certain foods that contain antioxidants, they’re released in the body through digestion and then travel through the bloodstream and into the cells, where they then help to ward off cell damage by ‘cleaning up’ your cells and getting rid of free radicals.

So what are the best ways to make sure you’re getting plenty of antioxidants? Add them to your diet! Certain foods are good sources of antioxidants like apples, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, tea and sweet potatoes.

But we get it – sometimes it can be difficult to consume sufficient amount of fruits and vegetables every day, hence lesser antioxidants in your diet. That’s where green tea comes in! A cup of Tetley green tea contains a whopping 5 times the amount of antioxidants you can find in an apple, making it a simple  way to add antioxidants  to your diet that scavenge  the free radicals. So the next time you reach out for your favourite green tea, remember – not only are you treating yourself to a refreshing beverage, you’re also doing some good to your body from inside!