Healthy Food Cucumber, the Best Antioxidant Functional Food

By Kyle J. Norton

Antioxidants are stable molecules that inhibit oxidation produced either by the liver or from the consumption of antioxidant-rich foods.

In other words, antioxidants inhibit the unstable free radicals with a single electron in the outermost ring that facilitates the domino's reaction to cause oxidative stress.

Free radicals are unstable molecules existing everywhere in the environment and in the body. The air we breathe and the food we eat and cellular metabolism are found to induce the production of free radicals.

Free radicals in moderate are necessary for the proper function of our body, such as free radical NO which is needed to relax the blood vessels. However, overexpression of free radicals can induce oxidative stress in the tissues and organs, leading protein, lipid, and cellular DNA damage.

Overexpression of oxidative stress over time has linked to the onset of chronic diseases, inclduing arthritis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.

In a healthy individual, antioxidant enzymes produced by the body are good enough to neutralize the levels of free radicals in the body. However, people with a weakened immune system may need an additional dietary source of antioxidant.

Most common risk factors associated with oxidative stress are antioxidants deficiency in the body caused by demographic, physical, lifestyle or nutritional factors.

Some researchers suggested people who smoke may be at the increased risk of oxidative stress. 

Dr. the lead scientist wrote, "Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for several human diseases. Chronic inflammation, resulting from increased oxidative stress, has been suggested as a mechanism that contributes to the increased susceptibility of smokers to cancer and microbial infections".

And, "Several studies have indicated greater levels of oxidative stress in cigarette smokers [31, 32], which is most likely attributed to the high concentration of ROS and nitrogen species (RNS) in cigarette smoke [33–36]. In addition, cigarette smoke has been associated with elevated ROS production by leukocytes in the airways of both acute and chronic smokers [37]".

The results strongly suggested, if you smoke, your risk of diseases associated with oxidative stress increased substantially, compared to those who don't.

The cucumber plant is a species of Cucumis Sativus, belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae and native to Western Asia. It is a creeping vine with roots in the ground and grows up with the support of frames.

With an aim to find a natural compound which processes antioxidative stress, researchers examined the antioxidant activity of polysaccharide from cucumber (Cucumis saticus L.) prepared by the hydrothermal method. 

According to the tested assays in the chemical analysis of body fluids, the trichloroacetic acid (TCA) method showed had a higher deproteinization percentage compared to other hydrothermal preparation.

In other words, the trichloroacetic acid (TCA) method demonstrated a little higher polysaccharide loss percentage due to the effect of the cucumber polysaccharide linkage by the β-glycosidic bonds.

According to the chemical constituent analysis, d-glucose, d-mannose, d-galactose, l-rhamnose, d-xylose, l-arabinose, d-glucuronic acid, and d-galacturonic acid worked synergistically in exerting scavenging ability against free radical superoxide anions.

Taken altogether, cucumber may be the beast antioxidant whole food for the treatment of diseases associated with oxidative stress, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of CuB in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Preparation, deproteinization, characterisation, and antioxidant activity of polysaccharide from cucumber (Cucumis saticus L.) by Chen L1, Huang G2, Hu J. (PubMed)
(2) Effects of Heat Shock on Photosynthetic Properties, Antioxidant Enzyme Activity, and Downy Mildew of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) by Ding X1,2, Jiang Y1, Hao T1, Jin H1, Zhang H1, He L1, Zhou Q1, Huang D2, Hui D3, Yu J. (PubMed)
(3) Role of Oxidative Stress in the Suppression of Immune Responses in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Exposed to Combustible Tobacco Product Preparation by Subhashini Arimilli,1 Eckhardt Schmidt,2 Brad E. Damratoski,3 and G. L. Prasad. (PMC)