Everyone knows that supplementing our diets with vitamins and minerals—especially when you’re not exactly eating properly—is the optimal way to maintain optimal health. But all too often, we take that knowledge for granted, not knowing the lesser-known health benefits of supplementing with vitamins C and E for example.

But thanks to some researchers out of the University of Maryland, we have some real world knowledge of what these vitamins can do for our inner selves—quite literally.

Right along side the understanding we have of the key role vitamins and minerals play in body functions is the knowledge of what isn’t good for our bodies, namely, consuming fried and fast foods. Not only does fast food do a number on our belt size—as chronicled by Morgan Spurlock in his award-winning documentary “Super Size Me”—but it does significant damage to our blood vessels, leading to a thing called endothelial dysfunction.

Fans of the CBS hit television series “CSI” have probably heard of something similar to this. In CSI, Grissom and his team scour crime scenes and often come upon small or large amounts of epithelial cells—the outermost layer of our skin—which gives them some of the pieces they need to solve the crime scene puzzle. Endothelial cells line the outermost layer of the blood vessels; doctors say that when these cells are healthy, they ensure the body’s blood vessels are clotting properly, a healthy blood pressure is maintained along with a healthy blood flow. The problem occurs when we eat the things we know aren’t good for us. By habitually eating foods loaded with saturated and trans fat, endothelial dysfunction results: blood vessels constrict, blood pressure rises, and we have an increased risk of having a heart attack. To put it more simply, just as our outer selves operate at diminished capacity when eating unhealthily, so too do our inner selves.

The question, of course, is how do we ensure our endothelial cells are in good working order? Is it as simple as not eating fast food and exercising regularly? That’s a good start, but according to Gary D. Plotnick, a leading researcher out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, we can do some more specific things as well.

Plotnick and his team of researchers embarked on a 10-year study to analyze the effects of high fat breakfasts on the body’s epithelial cells. Using ultrasound technology, researchers studied 20 healthy men and women to see what effect high fat breakfasts from McDonalds had on their body, in conjunction with taking antioxidant supplements. The results were interesting to say the least. While they found that yes, the griddle cakes, eggs, bacon and apple pies did adversely affect their blood flow, the adverse changes to endothelial function were staved off significantly when taking 800 IU of vitamin E and 1000 mg of vitamin C.

Now, the best part of all this is there are lots of other things found in quality, natural foods that give your blood vessels the strength they need to ensure adequate blood flow. For instance, in follow up studies, both by Plotnick and by others at universities like Harvard and State University of New York, Buffalo, researchers found that the amino acid L-arginine helps regulate endothelial function by increasing blood vessels’ flexibility, while the antioxidants found in garlic (bad for your breath, but great for your heart) reduces endothelial dysfunction by nearly 45 percent!

Generally speaking, these studies don’t tell us anything we didn’t already know; fried foods aren’t good for us. What they do tell us, though, is just how beneficial antioxidants are to our health by pinpointing exactly what kinds of vitamins and foods our blood vessels need for optimal function, and how they can act as a shield to the dysfunction our bodies undergo when eating improperly.