The nutrition and health care products market is keen on the "hype concept", and all kinds of foods are draped in scientific coat powder. People who love life want to find a pair of eye-catching eyes to capture true health in this mixed market. Sina Health has set up a “Nutrition Salon” to invite well-known nutritionists to provide users with scientific and effective nutrition guidance for analyzing popular concepts and topics in the field of nutrition and health.
Salon guest of this issue Liu Qingchun, deputy director of the Armed Police General Hospital choosing antioxidant foods also requires attention to side effects
Sina Health: At present, the concept of “antioxidant” nutrition and health care is extremely popular. Many nutritious health foods are under the banner of “antioxidation”. What is “antioxidant”?
Liu Qingchun: After the body's nutrients (fats, proteins, carbohydrates) are decomposed and absorbed into the body, they are converted into the energy needed by the body through the "oxidation" process. This process was originally necessary to maintain life, but scientific research found that in this process, the human body will produce a large class of substances "oxygen free radicals", which are harmful to human cells and directly lead to cancer. Increased risk of cardiovascular disease and accelerated aging. The so-called "antioxidation" is the process of removing these "oxygen radicals".
Sina Health: Which substances are currently recognized as having antioxidant effects in the scientific community?
Liu Qingchun: In addition to trace elements such as vitamins, selenium and zinc, a relatively new class of substances is “plant compounds” – a class of nutrients extracted from plants that can scavenge “oxygen free radicals” such as flavonoids and tea. Polyphenols, anthocyanins, carotenoids, lycopene and other substances.
Sina Health: How should I get to know these "antioxidant substances", are they so amazing?
Liu Qingchun: This kind of substance proved to be effective in scavenging oxygen free radicals in scientific experiments, but in the specific life guidance, how much can be eaten, and there is no more detailed research. We can only treat such things as a nutritious and health-care substance, but not as a medicine to treat diseases. Even the "antioxidant preparations" that have been extracted, such as soy isoflavones, allicin, etc., are not clinically available. The effect of treatment. At the same time, we should also be aware that foods containing these antioxidants may also contain other ingredients that are harmful to the body, so it also needs to be viewed dialectically. If you hear that it contains antioxidants, you can think that it is a good thing to eat 30-50g of soy per day is good for your health.
Sina Health: Which foods are nutritious and contain antioxidants?
Liu Qingchun: First of all, I recommend soybeans. Soybeans have found almost no bad substances. They are rich in high-quality protein and have antioxidants soy isoflavones. 30-50g of soybeans per day or a corresponding amount of soy products are very beneficial to the body; Followed by tea, which contains antioxidants such as tea polyphenols, and it is helpful for conditioning the body. Because tea contains trace amounts of caffeine, it is recommended not to drink strong tea. The third is tomato, which contains a lot of vitamin C and Lycopene is good for both antioxidants and men's health. Because vitamin C is easily destroyed by high temperatures, raw tomatoes can consume more vitamin C, but because lycopene is "fat-soluble", it uses oil. Fried tomatoes are more likely to absorb more lycopene; in the fourth fruit I recommend grapes, which contain antioxidants anthocyanins. Fifth, the content of chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant component in eggplant, is also high and can be eaten properly.
In addition, for aloe vera, which has been hyped more in recent years, and ginkgo, which is sought after by many people, although it contains certain antioxidants, since the former is more imported from abroad, China has no edible tradition, and the latter is used in Chinese medicine. There is a certain toxicity, so I don't recommend it.
