Antioxidants are natural compounds that found in vitamins, minerals, and various other substances.
The essential role of antioxidants, are to help the body to fight against the harmful effects of free radicals.
In a natural setting, free radicals are metabolic by-products that occurs when we breath normally or if we smoke.
Antioxidants aid our body, by preventing an accumulation of free radicals, which would then eventually attack our cells.
One part of the body is sensitive to the affects of this cellular damage is the cardiovascular system particularly the heart.
According the Cleveland Clinic, this cellular damage by free radicals causes oxidation of cholesterol.
During the oxidation of cholesterol, oxygen is adding to low density lipoproteins(LDL), commonly referred to as bad cholesterol.
During this process, the cholesterol becomes a plaque that lines the arteries, which can restrict blood flow to the heart.
Another factor, that doctors want people, who smoke to be aware of, is that the chemicals found in cigarettes raise the likelihood of developing a clot.
The process of clot, is where there is a minute tear in the artery and various clotting factors "patch" up the area.
The stagnant at the site of the tear and as more damage occurs through various factors the clot will eventually restrict blood flow causing a myocardial infarction ("heart attack").
When a person smokes they are more likely to develop their tears throughout their cardiovascular system.
Overall the past decade, researchers have become more interested in developing a more concrete relationship between the potency of antioxidants and heart disease, primarily focus of LDL oxidation.
During the trial phases of this research, many researchers had varying opinions.
Some were adamant that taking Vitamin E, which is popular antioxidant, helped those who suffered with heart disease.
Other researchers felt that factual data did not validate this statement.
In order to reduce public confusion, Cleveland Clinic decided to aggregate all of the data pooled from various studies and analyze the data from a broader perspective.
The advantage of this meta-analysis methodology is that you minimize the outlier results and look at the results from a purely statistically point of view.
Each one of the individuals studies had flaws so its very hard to create a solid opinion when you research data is very limited.
The Findings
The essential role of antioxidants, are to help the body to fight against the harmful effects of free radicals.
In a natural setting, free radicals are metabolic by-products that occurs when we breath normally or if we smoke.
Antioxidants aid our body, by preventing an accumulation of free radicals, which would then eventually attack our cells.
One part of the body is sensitive to the affects of this cellular damage is the cardiovascular system particularly the heart.
According the Cleveland Clinic, this cellular damage by free radicals causes oxidation of cholesterol.
During the oxidation of cholesterol, oxygen is adding to low density lipoproteins(LDL), commonly referred to as bad cholesterol.
During this process, the cholesterol becomes a plaque that lines the arteries, which can restrict blood flow to the heart.
Another factor, that doctors want people, who smoke to be aware of, is that the chemicals found in cigarettes raise the likelihood of developing a clot.
The process of clot, is where there is a minute tear in the artery and various clotting factors "patch" up the area.
The stagnant at the site of the tear and as more damage occurs through various factors the clot will eventually restrict blood flow causing a myocardial infarction ("heart attack").
When a person smokes they are more likely to develop their tears throughout their cardiovascular system.
Overall the past decade, researchers have become more interested in developing a more concrete relationship between the potency of antioxidants and heart disease, primarily focus of LDL oxidation.
During the trial phases of this research, many researchers had varying opinions.
Some were adamant that taking Vitamin E, which is popular antioxidant, helped those who suffered with heart disease.
Other researchers felt that factual data did not validate this statement.
In order to reduce public confusion, Cleveland Clinic decided to aggregate all of the data pooled from various studies and analyze the data from a broader perspective.
The advantage of this meta-analysis methodology is that you minimize the outlier results and look at the results from a purely statistically point of view.
Each one of the individuals studies had flaws so its very hard to create a solid opinion when you research data is very limited.
The Findings
- According to the Cleveland Clinic, they did not see any significant correlation between Vitamin E and heart disease.
Based on their data, Vitamin E did not reduce morality or probability of cardiovascular death - Researchers, still felt that Vitamin E does play an antioxidant role for other parts of the body
- They felt the central value of preventing the development of heart disease was eating nutritional foods, quit smoking, exercising, and natural weight loss.
These preventative measurements are central to a healthy heart and body. - One of the things that Cleveland Clinic focused on was eating antioxidant foods or taking antioxidants
Source...