Several foods are consumed because they are rich in antioxidants and offer numerous health benefits. Antioxidants are found naturally in foods, or produced industrially, to reduce the negative effects of oxygen.
Indeed, antioxidants delay oxidation of food, a cause of degradation, rancidity and discoloration.
Why so much interest in these substances? Is oxygen not essential and beneficial? What exactly are antioxidants, and where do we find them? Here are a few sources for answers to these questions.
See the antioxidants pages of the Food Safety Network website of the University of Guelph.
Want to know which additives contain antioxidants? Look for the A code in the list of ingredients on the label (Refer to the Food Additive Dictionary produced by Health Canada for food additive codes).
See also the Health Canada page on Antioxidant Vitamin Research.
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