|  | Diet Nutrition | Healthy Diets

What Fruits Contain Alpha Lipoic Acid?

Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is one of many antioxidant compounds found in nature and produced in the body to fight free radicals. Free radicals cause harmful chemical reactions that can damage cells, organs and tissues in the body. ALA is both water and fat soluble, unlike other antioxidants, so they work throughout the body. Research also shows ALA can help regenerate other depleted antioxidants.

  1. Green Pepper

    • While green peppers are considered to be vegetables in the culinary sense, they are botanically fruits. Green pepper is high in chloroplasts, which some studies have shown indicates the fruit is high in alpha lipoic acids, according to the George Mateljan Foundation. In addition, green peppers are good sources of vitamin C, thiamine, vitamin B6, beta carotene and folic acid.

    Tomatoes

    • Tomatoes, like green peppers, are sometimes considered a vegetable but are in reality a fruit. Alpha lipoic acids have been found in tomatoes and are commonly synthesized for use in skin creams. Tomatoes also contain the powerful antioxidant lycopene. Lycopene protects from certain cancers as well as protecting the heart. Tomatoes in their raw form have high concentrations of vitamin C.

    Grapefruit

    • The alpha lipoic acids found in grapefruit are also synthesized for use in skin creams. Like tomatoes, grapefruit contains lycopene and vitamin C. One half of a grapefruit contains more than 70% percent of your daily value for vitamin C. Grapefruit's high antioxidant activity can be ingested in the form of fresh juice.

    Lemon/Limes

    • Lemons and limes contain alpha lipoic acids and can be cooked or ingested raw. Lemon and limes contain limonoids, a compound that has been shown to help fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon. Both limes and lemons contain antioxidant flavonoids; limes contain a special type known as flavonol glycosides. These flavonol glycosides have been shown to stop cell division in many cancer cell lines and have important antiviral effects. Studies from west Africa in 2000 found the inclusion of lime juice in meals during the cholera epidemic was determined to reduce the chance of contracting the disease.

Healthy Diets - Related Articles