By Martin Martinez

Some of the benefits of anti-oxidants are prevention of disease and the slowing down of the aging process, and that would mean anything that has to do or contains collagen. This consists of skin, tissue, cells and internal organs.

It helps build a strong immune system and it also helps to prevents certain types of cancers and reduces the risk of heart disease. This is good news because a few contributing factors to heart disease is poor diet and lack of exercise.

Anti-oxidants help to fight free radicals. A few examples of things that cause free radicals are, pollution, cigar/cigarette smoke and radiation. Free radicals are sometimes formed during metabolism; our immune system cells make them to counteract bacteria and viruses.

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables (organic) because herbicides can also cause free radicals. Vitamins A, C and E make great anti-oxidants and also Alpha lipoic Acid and Co-enzyme Q10. Make sure you ingest foods that contain plenty of phytonutrients, the tongue twister fruits e.g. plums, peaches, pink grapefruit, papaya, oranges and berries. Don’t forget your broccoli, beets, brussel sprouts, spinach and greens, red peppers, carrots and also tomatoes.

Heart disease was ranked the number 1 leading cause of death in the US in 2001. “It may be America’s No. 1 killer, but people aren’t scared enough of heart disease”, says a top U.S. research cardiologist.

“We’ve done a good job of advertising to people that we’re doing better with heart disease, so people tend to sort of feel good about it,” said Dr. Robert Califf, vice chancellor for clinical research at Duke University Medical Center. “We have bypass surgery and stents and drugs that work; the [mortality] rates are declining.”

It’s true that U.S. heart disease deaths overall are down. From 1993 to 2003, cardiovascular disease death rates dropped 22.1 percent.

But more than 910,000 Americans still die of heart disease annually, according to the American Heart Association. And more than 70 million Americans live every day with some form of heart disease, which can include high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, angina (chest pain), heart attack and congenital heart defects.

“It’s sort of accepted as part of the background noise, even though it’s far and away the mostly likely reason that you or I will die,” Califf said.(By Mary Carter CNN)

Martin Martinez is a new health contributor at HHR blog he is a New York City based fitness  personal trainer.