Do you know what antioxidants really are?

Antioxidants — you’ve probably heard the term bandied about in health food stores around town, or peppering discussions about good health and preventing diseases.

A quick Google search shows that use of the term has spiked tremendously in the past two decades, in tandem with the increasing interest in healthier eating and living. But do you know what antioxidants really are?

The dictionary says it’s essentially a substance that removes potentially damaging oxidising agents in a living organism. Oxidation, in human bodies, is a chemical reaction that produces free radicals that can lead to chain reactions that may damage cells.

Even the simple process of metabolising or processing the oxygen that we breathe in, or the production of energy from our cells from it, can produce such free radicals.

But our body is a wondrous creation, for it also produces the antioxidants needed to counteract their damaging effects. However, free radicals far outnumber the naturally occurring antioxidants in our body, especially in the increasingly polluted world we live in.

So to help our bodies maintain its balance, a continual supply of external antioxidants is needed to help it neutralise and remove free radicals.

In comes Mother Nature, who has provided what our bodies need. For antioxidants occur naturally in many plant-based foods like fruits and vegetables. They can also be found in tea, wine and chocolate! There are also many types of antioxidants, with some popular ones being vitamins A (beta-carotene), C, and E. You’ve also probably heard about flavanols — found in chocolate, and lycopene, found in tomatoes.

One of the reasons behind the rise of interest in fruit and vegetables juices recently — besides the deliciousness! — is the huge amount of antioxidants one can get from them.

Take Juice Work’s Heartbeat drink, which combines the powerful antioxidant goodnesss of grapefruit, orange, carrot, apple and cucumber.

It has the antioxidant hesperidin from oranges, which improves blood vessel function and lower a person’s risk of heart disease.

Besides the antioxidants alpha and beta-carotene, which is good for skin, lungs, immune system and heart health, carrots contain the antioxidant lutein, which is vital for eye health.

On top of being rich in vitamins A and C, grapefruit also has the antioxidant naringenin, which has been found to help the liver break down fat and increase body cells’ sensitivity to

insulin. There is evidence that suggests naringenin might even protect the liver from damage.

Cucumbers have numerous antioxidants too. Again, besides vitamin C and beta-carotene, it contains flavonoids like kaempferol, which may help fight cancer and lower your risk of chronic diseases, including heart disease. Apples too are rich in flavonoids that pack a potent antioxidant punch. Indeed, scientists have now calculated the antioxidant power of an apple is equal to more than 1,500 milligrams of vitamin C.

So what are you waiting for? Get a Heartbeat cuppa — or any juice or juice smoothie of your choice from Juice Works today — and help your body ward off those nasty free radicals!

P/S: Specially for the month of October, Juice Works have tied up with Fave — formerly Groupon — to offer RM5 OFF any Juice Works purchase. Simply head to myfave.com or download the Fave app and grab a promo code to get your discount!**

**This offer can be redeemed from Oct 1 till Oct 31, 2017
**It cannot be combined with other ongoing discounts/offers/vouchers