Free radicals attack healthy cells, weaken them, and make them more susceptible to diseases. Researchers suspect that in the battleground of your body, antioxidants fight free radicals and may prevent oxidative damage.
Research is under way to determine how effective antioxidants are at fighting diseases.
For example, in a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers determined that people who ate at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day lowered their risk of stroke by more than 30 percent. In one study of 1,300 men, those who consumed the highest amounts of lycopene had about half the risk of heart attack as men who consumed less. In a 5-year study of 48,000 men, researchers found that men who ate 10 servings of cooked tomato products each week had a much lower risk of prostate cancer than those who did not. Many other studies like these are looking at diseases such as Alzheimer s, hardening of the arteries, cataracts, and nerve degeneration to see what influence antioxidants might have in prevention. Antioxidants are plentiful in the foods you eat.