High cholesterol levels can contribute to the obstruction and hardening of your blood vessels and can eventually lead to coronary artery disease, stroke, kidney disease and aneurysms. By lowering your cholesterol levels with prescription drugs, diet and lifestyle changes, you can slow down or prevent further harm to your health. Antioxidants are chemicals your body needs to halt the oxidation damage done by free radicals and chemically reactive substances containing oxygen. Free radicals damage cells and disrupt normal metabolic processes. Unchecked oxidation transforms the mechanism your body uses to transport cholesterol into one that eventually produces harmful, artery-choking plaque.
Your Cholesterol Numbers
Cholesterol screening test results give your total cholesterol level, but there is more you need to know. The total cholesterol number consists of the amount of cholesterol carried by three special fat-transporting chemicals called lipoproteins. Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, transfers cholesterol throughout your body and into your cells. For this reason, LDL is called the "bad" cholesterol. High-density lipoprotein, or HDL, is considered "good" because it carries cholesterol away. The third lipoprotein is very-low-density lipoprotein, or VLDL, which carries cholesterol and fats. VLDL converts to LDL after it releases a certain amount of fat.
Antioxidants and LDL
Antioxidants don't reduce your cholesterol levels. Instead, they limit the harm that too much cholesterol in your blood can cause. LDL carries cholesterol through your circulatory system and into your body's cells. Sometimes, as LDL carries its payload into the cells of your arteries, it becomes trapped within artery walls. If LDL is exposed to free radicals or other oxidizing substances while trapped in artery tissue, a sequence of events involving your immune system begins that may ultimately lead to the formation of blood-vessel constricting plaque. Antioxidants can help prevent this plaque buildup by preventing LDL from being oxidated.
Research
Medical studies have confirmed that antioxidants can effectively reduce LDL oxidation. The author of a 2001 review published in the "Journal of Nutrition" found that antioxidant compounds in garlic were able to reduce LDL oxidation in in-vitro and human studies. A 1998 review published in the journal "American Society for Clinical Nutrition," examined the effectiveness of the antioxidant vitamin E in blocking LDL oxidation alone or in combination with other antioxidants. According to the review authors, studies show that vitamin E combined with CoQ10, vitamin C, glutathione or other antioxidants was more effective than vitamin E alone.
Antioxidant Sources
You can get extra antioxidants from the foods you eat or through dietary supplements. Berries, cherries and red grapes contain potent antioxidants known collectively as anthocyanidins. Cranberries, cocoa, apples, strawberries, grapes and wine contain compounds similar to anthocyanidins called proanthocyanidins. Carrots contain the antioxidant beta carotene, while kale, collards, spinach and citrus fruit contain lutein.
In addition to vitamins A, C and E, antioxidant dietary supplements may contain the mineral selenium. Selenium also fights LDL oxidation. Brazil nuts are a good source of selenium. You also can get selenium from tuna, beef, cod fish and turkey.
References
- "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Coantioxidants Make A-tocopherol an Efficient Antioxidant for Low-density Lipoprotein13
- Office of Dietary Supplements; Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Selenium
- SABiosciences: LDL Oxidation in Atherogenesis
- Food Insight; Functional Foods Fact Sheet: Antioxidants; October 2009
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Diet, LDL Oxidation, and Coronary Artery Disease; Peter Zock, et al.; 1998
- "Journal of Nutrition"; Supplement: Recent Advances on the Nutritional Effects Associated with the Use of Garlic as a Supplement ... ; Benjamin Lau; March 2001
- PubMed Health: Hardening of the Arteries
