You may have heard the term “antioxidants” floating around from time to time, but do you really understand what they do to support a healthy immune system? If you want to protect your body from outside factors, it’s important that you understand antioxidants and how they work. Learn all about these unique compounds and their function in supporting immune health.
Did you know? Every serving of Airborne provides essential antioxidants to help support your immune system. Get the support you want with Airborne.
What are antioxidants?
In simple terms, antioxidants are compounds that fight free radical damage. Examples of antioxidants are common vitamins like vitamin C or vitamin E.
What do antioxidants do?
To understand how antioxidants work, you must first understand what free radicals are and how they form.
People usually think of free radicals as ‘bad,’ but surprisingly, free radicals play an essential role in your health. For example, free radicals are the by-product of our body performing crucial physiological functions, therefore, they are essential to life.1 The problem comes when free radicals outnumber the levels of antioxidants in your body. This imbalance can quickly lead to oxidative stress, a condition that, if left unchecked, can create cellular damage within your body.1 The immune system is especially sensitive to free radical damage.
The bad news is that many things can raise your free radical levels. Lifestyle factors like stress, smoking, high-fat diets, alcohol, and air pollution can cause excess free radicals in the body. Maintaining the balance between free radicals and antioxidants can be challenging for modern lifestyles.
How do antioxidants support immune health?
Antioxidants make sure the free radicals in your body stay in check.
These compounds work by neutralizing free radicals in your body so that they are stable and not highly reactive. Your body produces some antioxidants naturally.2 However, it is easy for the scale to tip and for free radicals to outnumber antioxidants in the body. To help maintain a healthy immune system, you need a steady intake of antioxidants from outside sources, like food or supplements.
Antioxidants are naturally found in plant-based whole foods like fruits and vegetables. You can also add antioxidant supplements to your daily routine. For example, supplements like Airborne that contain nutrients like antioxidants vitamins C, A, and E can help you support a healthy immune system.
What are natural sources of antioxidants?
Are you looking to increase your intake of antioxidants? Adding antioxidant-packed foods to your diet is where you should start. Many foods are high in these compounds, but the USDA recommends these top 20.3
| Header 1 | Header 2 |
|---|---|
| 1. small red beans | 11. sweet cherries |
| 2. pinto beans | 12. red delicious apples |
| 3. red kidney beans | 13. Granny Smith apples |
| 4. black beans | 14. gala apples |
| 5. wild blueberries | 15. black plums |
| 6. cultivated blueberries | 16. plums |
| 7. blackberries | 17. prunes |
| 8. cranberries | 18. pecans |
| 9. strawberries | 19. russet potatoes |
| 10. raspberries | 20. dark leafy greens |
Which drinks have antioxidants?
You can also drink your antioxidants. Some antioxidant-rich drinks include:
Matcha green tea
Green teas has lots of catechins, a group of polyphenols that are plantbased antioxidants. Matcha green tea, in particular, has three times more catechins than regular green tea.4
Pomegranate juice
It’s one of the most nutrient-dense juices out there. Pomegranate juice gets its bright red color from polyphenols, which are potent antioxidants. These compounds help repair free radical damage.
Coffee
Did you know that coffee has more antioxidants than green tea? Roasted coffee beans contain thousands of antioxidants like chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and rutin.
Does Airborne contain antioxidants?
Even when you add more of the right food to your diet, getting all the daily nutrients you want can be difficult. Luckily, many antioxidant supplements on the market can help support immune health, like Airborne.
Airborne gives you the immune support you want with a crafted blend of vitamins, and minerals. It also has a proprietary herbal combination that includes echinacea and ginger. Airborne is packed with antioxidant vitamins and minerals, like Vitamin C, which helps support the proper function of immune cells, and zinc, which helps fight free radicals.
Airborne offers a wide selection of antioxidant supplements in various forms and formulas, including chewables and effervescent tablets, to keep doing what you love all year round! Check with your doctor to see if Airborne is right for you! Shop Airborne today.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Bibliography
1 Lobo, V, A Patil, A Phatak, and N Chandra. 2010. “Free Radicals, Antioxidants and Functional Foods: Impact on Human Health.” Pharmacognosy Reviews 4 (8): 118–26. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-7847.70902.
2 Pham-Huy, Lien Ai, Hua He, and Chuong Pham-Huy. 2008. “Free Radicals, Antioxidants in Disease and Health.” International Journal of Biomedical Science : IJBS 4 (2): 89–96. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614697/.
3 Wu, Xianli, Gary R. Beecher, Joanne M. Holden, David B. Haytowitz, Susan E. Gebhardt, and Ronald L. Prior. 2004. “Lipophilic and Hydrophilic Antioxidant Capacities of Common Foods in the United States.” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 52 (12): 4026– 37. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf049696w.
4 Weiss, David J., and Christopher R. Anderton. 2003. “Determination of Catechins in Matcha Green Tea by Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography.” Journal of Chromatography A 1011 (1-2): 173–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0021-9673(03)01133-6.
