Goji Berries are known to be one of the most nutritionally dense and rich food sources on the planet. With the high levels of antioxidants that goji berries contain it works great to boost the immune system to not only help those that are sick but also keep healthy peoples immune systems strong. The strength of your immune system is a huge factor in determining whether or not your body catches that cold that is going around or not. The benefits of goji berries do not stop with the immune system though. Goji the superfood contains many other nutritional ingredients that the body needs to perform at optimum levels.
Antioxidants has become a very popular topic lately. Testing shows that antioxidants are resonsible for many benefical things. Some of which includes boosting the immune system and also controling the free radicals that are in our body. Many beauty companies are including goji berries in their anti aging products because goji berries are so high in antioxidants. So since antioxidants benefit us in so many different ways how can we tell which foods are most richest in them? The ORAC Test is a standard way of measuring the amount of antioxidants in a food. ORAC stands for (Oxygen Radical Absorbtion Capacity) to learn more about the ORAC test please click on the link above.
As cells function normally in the body, they produce damaged molecules, called free radicals. These free radicals are highly unstable and steal components from other cellular molecules, such as fat, protein, or DNA, thereby spreading the damage.
This damage continues in a chain reaction, and entire cells soon become damaged and die. This process is called peroxidation. Peroxidation is useful because it helps the body destroy cells that have outlived their usefulness and kills germs and parasites. However, peroxidation, when left unchecked, also destroys or damages healthy cells.
Antioxidants help prevent widespread cellular destruction by willingly donating components to stabilize free radicals. More importantly, antioxidants return to the surface of the cell to stabilize rather than damage other cellular components.
When there are not enough antioxidants to hold peroxidation in check, free radicals begin damaging healthy cells, which in turn, can lead to problems. For example, free radical damage to immune cells can lead to an increased risk of infections.
Many people know that Goji Berries are very high in Antioxidants, but what does that mean you might ask. We hope this explains a little better why we need these in our systems. As the name implies, antioxidants are substances that are capable of counteracting the damaging, but normal, effects of the physiological process of oxidation in animal tissue. Antioxidants are nutrients (vitamins and minerals) as well as enzymes (proteins in your body that assist in chemical reactions). They are believed to play a role in preventing the development of some chronic diseases.
Antioxidants block the process of oxidation by neutralizing free radicals. In doing so, the antioxidants themselves become oxidized. That is why there is a constant need to replenish our antioxidant resources.
How they work can be classified in one of two ways:
* Chain-breaking – When a free radical releases or steals an electron, a second radical is formed. This molecule then turns around and does the same thing to a third molecule, continuing to generate more unstable products. The process continues until termination occurs — either the radical is stabilized by a chain-breaking antioxidant such as beta-carotene and vitamins C and E, or it simply decays into a harmless product.
* Preventive – Antioxidant enzymes like superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase prevent oxidation by reducing the rate of chain initiation. That is, by scavenging initiating radicals, such antioxidants can thwart an oxidation chain from ever setting in motion. They can also prevent oxidation by stabilizing transition metal radicals such as copper and iron.
