Plant secondary metabolites and antioxidants benefits

Known to mankind since primitive man, the plants are used for food and to cure diseases. It is evident that a dietwith essential nutrients and bioactive substances plays an important role on preventing and curing chronic diseases.Free radicals production occurs in the body, such as a physiological process. Substantial evidences had shown thatfree radicals and other oxidants are responsible for aging, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases anddegenerative diseases as cancer, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, cataracts, immunologic decline and braindysfunctions. Antioxidants protect the body, being able to intercept free radicals from cellular metabolism orexogenous sources, avoiding cellular integrity losses and injuries. Fresh vegetables contain numerousphytochemicals, plant metabolites, especially phenolic compounds, nitrogen compounds, carotenoids, ascorbic acidand tocopherols. These compounds have significant antioxidant activity, and are associated with lower incidenceand mortality from chronic diseases, especially cancer, in humans.