Benefits of Antioxidants for your Health

Antioxidants help to reverse the effects of free radicals that can damage your cells and your DNA¹. Free radicals are a natural by-product of the metabolism of healthy living cells and can be used to neutralise viruses and bacteria. Too many free radicals however, can seriously damage your cells and this damage can accumulate as we become older².

A free radical is an atom that doesn’t have enough electrons in its outer shell, so it searches for other atoms hoping to steal an electron to make itself stable. Unfortunately, the other atom now has one less electron and itself, becomes a free radical. If left unabated, this process of stealing electrons can cascade, resulting in cellular damage.

Pollution, smoking and exposure to UV rays can all create excessive free radicals in your body. Normally, this isn’t too much of a problem, because your body can handle these free radicals, but if there are not enough antioxidants available to counter this influx of free radicals, problems can occur.

HOW CAN ANTIOXIDANTS FIGHT FREE RADICALS?

Antioxidants actively seek out free radical atoms, combining with each atom and giving it the electron it needs to become stable. The key to this process is that the antioxidant doesn’t become a free radical itself, when it donates an electron to a free radical.

Another important point for maintaining a healthy body is that there needs to be a balance between the number of free radicals and the number of antioxidants³. This is why antioxidants have become so popular over the past few years, as people have realised the dangers of free radical damage to their body.

Antioxidants have been shown reduce the risk of a stoke⁴, cancer⁵, cardiovascular disease⁶, degenerative diseases⁷, cataracts⁸, type 2 diabetes⁹ and aging¹⁰.

BLACK SEED IS AN ANTIOXIDANT

There is plenty of scientific evidence demonstrating the antioxidant properties of Black Seed Oil^11,12,13. This means that including Black Seed Oil in your diet can significantly reduce your risk of many devastating diseases and also improve your general health.

The Black Seed Oil manufactured in Australia by Hab Shifa is 100% organic and TGA approved.

REFERENCES

All references accessed on 20/3/18

1. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/antioxidants/.
2. http://www.healthchecksystems.com/antioxid.htm.
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3249911/.
4. https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/141/1/118/4630574.
5. http://www.brainlife.org/fulltext/2001/salganik_ri011000.pdf.
6. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/82d8/776cc01567e6658a47057860e10afb2203b6.pdf.
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC47258/.
8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054358908609977.
9. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10882221_Glucose_Toxicity_in_-Cells_Type_2_Diabetes_Good_Radicals_Gone_Bad_and_the_Glutathione_Connection.
10. http://www.medicinacomplementar.com.br/biblioteca/pdfs/Biomolecular/mb-0976.pdf.
11. http://ijpsr.com/bft-article/chemical-composition-and-antioxidant-activities-of-black-seed-oil-nigella-sativa-l/?view=fulltext.
12. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1745-4514.2009.00309.x.