Antioxidants are substances that help to protect cells from the damage of free radicals. Free radicals are produced by the oxidation or the chemical process initiated in our body. The sources of antioxidants may occur in different variants, natural and artificial sources. The antioxidants which are produced by the human body are called endogenous and the antioxidants produced outside the body are known as exogenous antioxidants. Vitamin C, carotenoids, and vitamin E are examples of antioxidants that keep your cells safe from being damaged by free radicals. Plant products such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, whole grains, spices, and herbs, even cocoa are the best natural sources of having antioxidants. In this blog, we are going to discuss the presence of organic herbal antioxidants in natural sources.
Discussing The Spices That Contain High antioxidants:
- Peppermint: Dried peppermint is enriched with high antioxidants than fresh leaves. Most people like to use dried Peppermint in their daily tea or drink. If you want to boost up your antioxidant density in your body, adding it to your tea is the best way of consuming it.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon is one of the most organic herbal antioxidants used in recipes for adding flavor to traditional foods. This spice is also used to enhance the aroma of breakfast cereals, sweet dishes, and snack foods.
- Thyme: Thyme is a floral herb. Dried thyme contains more antioxidants than a fresh one. Thyme bonds a good pair with lemon, sage, rosemary, and lavender. These organic herbal antioxidants have a wide range of properties for medicinal, ornamental, and dietary uses. Every part of thyme is important to treat diseases like sore throat, diarrhea, arthritis, etc. Thyme mostly is used to make homemade soups or masala cooking with other spices.
- Clove: When people search for the best organic herbal antioxidants in spices, the first thing that comes in our mind is cloves. Cloves have the highest amount of antioxidant than other spices. Both ground and whole form contain an equal level of antioxidants. 2 grams of ground cloves consist of carbs, calories, vitamin K, fiber, and manganese in different proportions. It helps to reduce oxidative stress. It works as a natural antioxidant to improve our health. Some researchers claim that the compounds found in cloves can help to prevent even cancer disease. Cloves induce a distinct additional flavor in foods. Enjoy the warmth of food with this.
The natural sources of organic herbal antioxidants can be divided into three different groups, such as carotenoids, vitamins, and phenolic compounds.
- Vitamins: Vitamin C and vitamin E contain the most powerful antioxidant properties. Experts suggest consuming 1000 mg of vitamin C in your daily diet in the form of vegetables, fruits, or the herbal products of baobab, dog-rose, and many more. These consumptions should be taken during the morning, and not in the evening. Intake of sunflower seed oil and wheat gram oil is good for including vitamin E in daily diet. You can use the oil to make salads and other vegetables.
- Carotenoids: Carotenoids also acts as one of the types of antioxidants for our body. You can consume them in dietary form through food. More than 600 types of carotenoids are present in different fruits and vegetables, for example, beta carotene, alpha-carotene, lutein, lycopene, beta-cryptoxanthin, etc. The foods having carotenoids are spinach, kale, tomatoes, carrots, oranges, etc.
- Phenolic compound: Polyphenols are regarded as one of the best organic herbal antioxidants to slow down the process of oxidation reactions. A study showed that people who consume 650 grams of polyphenol enriched diet in a day have a lower risk of death. The foods like berries, olives, cocoa-powder, flaxseed, herbs are enriched with polyphenols.
Organic herbs are full of benefits. There are no side-effects of consuming these herbs. These herbs are very beneficial for our body. These herbs are full of vitamin A, C, and E. Just make sure that you consume these natural antioxidants before 6 PM in a day. Try to include them in your daily diet. The spices and these foods or vegetables are naturally occurring organic compounds and are in use since many years.