Mixing lettuce varieties can protect against chain reactions of free radicals and molecules that can cause cell damage and other diseases.

The researchers from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in Spain and the University of Pisa in Italy analysed the compounds of three lettuce varieties: the green-leaf ’Batavia’, the semi-red-leaf ’Marvel of Four Seasons’, and the red-leaf ’Oak Leaf’.
Using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) techniques, they were able to observe the behaviour of the speed (kinetics) of the antioxidant compounds of each variety.
The results showed that the green-leaf lettuce contains water-soluble, antioxidant compounds that act at a slow and intermediate speed, the red-leaf one has compounds with intermediate and rapid kinetics, and the semi-red-leaf one has three kinds of compounds, with a rapid, intermediate and slow speed.
"The fact that there are compounds that act at different speeds does not mean that some are better or worse than others," said Usue Perez-Lopez, researcher at UPV/EHU.
It is also important that our bodies should acquire foods with antioxidants that have slower kinetics so that the latter will continue to act over a longer period of time.
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Free radicals harm our body by causing, in the best of cases, ageing and, in the worse, serious diseases.
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Source-IANS