Antioxidants

Antioxidants in food
The best way to get antioxidants is to eat only fresh, so-called living food. However, stressful daily lives often make it difficult to eat a healthy, varied and balanced diet.

Vitamin C is one of the best-known antioxidants in food, with the acerola cherry taking a top position in terms of vitamin C content. In vegetables, it is kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli as well as peppers, spinach and the tomato. For fruit, it is sea buckthorn berries, followed by blackcurrants, kiwi, lemon and orange.

Vitamin E is also one of the antioxidants in foods and is a component of high-quality vegetable oils such as sesame oil, sunflower oil, wheat germ oil and olive oil. Nuts and seeds, especially sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, pine nuts and almonds also contain vitamin E.

Carotenoids are an extensive class of phytochemicals that cause yellow to reddish colouration in plants. Beta-carotene, also known as provitamin A, is found mainly in carrots, tomatoes, pumpkins, peppers, mango, apricots, as well as spinach, broccoli and kale.

Selenium is an essential trace element that humans need to take in through food and belongs to the antioxidants. Data on the average selenium content in food is scarce and difficult to determine. This is because the selenium content in food depends on the selenium content of the soil or animal feed. In Germany, animal feed is enriched with selenium. Meat is therefore one of the most important sources of selenium in Germany [MRI, 2008]. Brazil nuts are among the plant foods richest in selenium.

Like selenium, zinc is an essential trace element and is found in animal and plant foods. Particularly rich in zinc are oysters, liver and veal, as well as cereals and sunflower seeds.

Polyphenols are among the secondary plant substances. Anthocyanins are a subgroup of polyphenols. They are responsible for the red-purple colouring of grapes, cherries, berries, red cabbage and pomegranates. But green and black tea, cocoa and coffee beans also contain polyphenols. The health benefits of secondary plant compounds have been increasingly researched recently and are part of many scientific studies.