Harnessing the Benefits of Antioxidants During Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a magical time, both figuratively and literally. The body undergoes so many changes, each step a vital link to the next one, and 9 months later, a human being is born! Pregnancy is also the time when the body’s needs change dramatically. Diet is the first area where changes must be made in order for the body to cope with the changes and just as important, for the baby’s development. Eating-on-a-run, drinking alcohol and caffeine, salty foods, fatty foods, snacking, are just a few examples of what not to indulge during this period. A lot of women are also discovering the benefits of antioxidants and the tremendous value foods rich in antioxidants offer. Women start thinking about, “eating for two”, knowing that whatever they ingest, will have an effect on their baby’s health. First, the term antioxidants refer to substances capable of counteracting the damaging physiological process of oxidation in animal tissue. Antioxidants include vitamins and minerals as well as enzymes. Some discovered benefits of antioxidants are preventing the development of cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and cataracts. Antioxidants in the diet control the damage caused by free radicals. Each one has it’s own internal process in its antioxidant function. For example, Vitamin E, because it is fat soluble, is ia unique position to safeguard cell membranes from damage caused by free radicals. Another important study on the benefits of antioxidants which was done by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) concluded that, “higher maternal total intakes of antioxidants during pregnancy may decrease the risks for wheezing illnesses in early childhood.” To an expectant mother, this is great news indeed! What's great about fungal nail infection | Info on How to Stop Aging | Hot Water Cooler Tags: benefits of antioxidants This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.