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“Ma drink your prune juice!” I smile when I hear that line from a film that I watched recently, and some of you film buffs might well be able to tell me the name of the film. Although usually the subject of poking fun at, in reality it is actually a wise move. I’ll tell you why later.

We’ve all heard of antioxidants, but what exactly are they, and how important are they?

I’ll answer that question in a roundabout manner. The cells in our bodies need a constant flow of oxygen to extract energy from food during digestion, and we have seen in earlier posts how the lack of oxygen, leads a cell to turn to the process of using sugar (glycolysis), to create energy thus becoming a cancer cell.

Urgently Looking Help For Cancer? Go Here.

The process of using oxygen to create energy creates unstable molecules called free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive molecules which are unstable because they contain and unpaired electron. Electrons prefer to be in a paired state, so the free radical molecule goes looking for an electron to steal. This sets off a chain reaction, which creates more free radicals. When a molecule loses an electron under these circumstances it is said to be oxidised.

Normally this situation is kept under control by the body’s immune system, as only a small amount of free radicals are created. However, with today’s environmental issues, pollutants, toxins and other factors, including cigarette smoke, and even x-rays, these all trigger the production of much higher levels of free radicals in our bodies.

When our immune system can no longer cope, we start to develop cancer.

So why do people develop cancer more often when they get older?

The answer is simply as we get older our immune system declines with age, so it becomes even more important to look after your health and be aware of the needs of your immune system.

Getting back to our original question, antioxidants are simply molecules with an extra electron that can give that electron to free radicals, neutralising them. Therefore an effective antioxidant strategy is something everyone should be seriously considering, especially in early adult life. For us older folks it’s a matter of survival if we fail to do anything about it.

Antioxidants work across a range of problems, not only preventing cancer, but also helping prevent heart disease for example by hindering the oxidation of harmful cholesterol, (the oxidised cholesterol that damages arteries).

Remember that prune juice? Its a natural cancer treatment, although people tend to think of it first as a laxative. Research has been conducted into antioxidant levels in foods, and the results have been tabled by a classification known as ORAC (the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity score).

Top of this list is prunes followed by raisins, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums and oranges. So the comical dig at prune juice not that funny after all. Drinking prune juice is actually a sound antioxidant investment. The next most delicious fruit is strawberries which are probably more of a favourite to most people than prunes.

Have you visited my sister blog, ‘Healthy Foods and Eating Healthy?’ The link is in the sidebar. Now you know the reason why I chose strawberries as the theme for that blog, along with the quotation “Change Your Heart!” (just go easy on the cream )

For more detailed natural cancer treatment information go here, and also go here.

Tags: antioxidants, cancer, natural cancer treatment, prunes, strawberries