What Foods Contain Antioxidants? We’ll Tell You!
Antioxidants don’t have to come from supplements; they are available in a wide variety of foods. In fact, for those wondering what foods contain antioxidants the answer might be surprising.
One clue that helps make foods that contain antioxidants easy to spot is their bright colors. Antioxidants are found in a large number of plants and the ones that have the brighter colors tend to contain the most antioxidants.
The antioxidant power in these brightly colored foods is usually higher due to the intense concentration of vitamins, minerals, cartenoids, polyphenols, and others.
What are the Antioxidants in Foods?
There are several different antioxidants that are found in foods, each doing a different thing. As can be seen from these lists, blueberries are no longer the only antioxidant foods.
Carotenoids are common antioxidants found in foods that are yellow, orange and red. This coloring comes from the pigments that are synthesized by plants. Common carotenoids are alpha and beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, and lycopene.
Carotenoids can be found in many vegetables including apricots, pumpkin, sweet potato, tomatoes, watermelon, peaches, mangoes, nectarines beets, broccoli and other brightly colored vegetables.
Vitamin A, important for eye health and other body functions is abundant in green and orange colored vegetables including sweet potato, winter squash, swiss chard, bell peppers, cantaloupes and more. It is also found in beef liver and eggs.
Vitamin C is used for the synthesis of collagen, which is important in eye health and is an important part of brain function, mood and a component of blood vessels, tendons, ligaments and bone. Vitamin C is also necessary for the production energy.
Vitamin C can be found in citrus fruits, berries, cauliflower, kale and many other vegetables and fruits.
Vitamin E’s main function is as an antioxidant. It helps the body to maintain reliability in its cell membranes. Vitamin E plays a large role in the communication between cells and their genetic activity.
Vitamin E can be found in carrots, mangoes, nuts, broccoli, greens and many other foods.
Like Vitamin E, Zinc is important in the structure and integrity of the cell membranes. It is also important in the structure of proteins. Zinc deficiencies in biological membranes leave them exposed to the oxidation damage of free radicals. Zinc can be found in oysters and other seafood, whole grains, nuts, red meat and poultry and dairy products.
Surprising Foods that Contain Antioxidants
Antioxidants aren’t just found in fruits and vegetables, in fact, they are found in spices, nuts, meats and more. It might surprise many people to find that cloves, cinnamon and oregano are antioxidant rich. They don’t contain enough on their own to be beneficial, however, when added to other antioxidant rich foods they help boost the benefits.
What foods contain antioxidants is an easy question to answer, if its colorful and pretty it most likely if packed full of antioxidants and will be good for protection against free radicals that can destroy health and speed up the aging process.