by Marzia Nicolini
The best known (and studied) are the vitamins A, C and E. If you visit the site of the Society of the Country of Human Nutrition () you can find out the daily requirement recommended for each. All three counteract the alteration of fats, protecting cell membranes and preventing the deposit of cholesterol on the walls of artery.
La Vitamin Cmoreover, it prevents the transformation of (harmless) nitrates into (carcinogenic) nitrites. But the category of antioxidants also includes many other substances with an action still to be clarified, such as quercetin, isoflavones, anthocyanins.
What they have in common is their action against the free radicals, considered responsible for most of the degenerative diseases, of the aging processes and, according to some hypotheses yet to be verified, of the onset of cancer.
But how do they work? And how can we be sure we are getting the right amounts for our well-being? The supplements they can help us not to have shortages?
We asked Dr. Filippo Ongaro, a medical expert in therapies antiaging, Author of the book Up to a hundred years (ed. Ponte alle Grazie, € 14,90) and to Professor Benvenuto Cestaro, director of the School of Specialization in Food Science of the University of Milan.
