We hear a lot today about antioxidants, "free radicals" and what we can do about them.
There is much confusion, so it may help to break down the key facts about these important, potentially life-saving and life-extending substances.1. Oxygen is good and bad. In the human system, this basic element is both a help and a hindrance. Without it, no life. And yet, oxygen can work to break down other substances in the body as it is metabolized, creating what are called "free radicals" that displace electrons from other molecular structures. This is extremely damaging.
2. Oxidation is the name for this damage. An antioxidant, therefore, is anything that works to stop or retard this damaging breakdown by adding back an electron to the free radical and rendering it harmless.
3. We have natural antioxidants. Our bodies can fight this battle naturally, to an extent. Common nutrients such as beta-carotene, vitamin E, vitamin C and selenium have been found to have antioxidant properties.
4. There are serious repercussions. The body actually does need some free radicals to function effectively, but an excessive amount is correlated with such diseases as heart and liver disease, as well as cancer.
5. Environmental factors affect you. Oxidation is exacerbated by stress, tobacco, drinking alcohol, excess exposure to the sun, air and water pollution, and other environmental and behavioral factors. There are things you can do in your lifestyle beyond taken antioxidant supplements to combat this scourge.
6. Antioxidants can be preventive. They work by reducing the number and effect of free radicals may even work to inhibit the spread of cancerous cells. For one example, they are thought to help prevent the beginnings of heart disease due to oxidation. By limiting the number of unstable, electron-deprived molecules, antioxidants can prevent the free-radical "chain reaction" from starting in the first place, in various places and organs in the body.
7. Antioxidants can be curative. We already have evidence that antioxidants can help ameliorate both symptoms and side effects of many diseases that proliferate because of oxidation in our bodies. It is also clear that antioxidants are effective in the treatment of chronic inflammation, and other applications are being discovered all the time.
8. The body's natural antioxidant mechanisms can be supported by supplementation. Our bodies already circulate many nutrients precisely because of their antioxidant properties. They also create antioxidant enzymes expressly for the purpose of controlling free radicals and the damaging chain reactions. Our systems will utilize any other antioxidant substances in these same processes.
9. Mom was right: Take your vitamins. Vitamin E has been shown to suppress the "stickiness" of blood platelets and acts as an anticoagulant to decrease the formation of heart-attack-inducing blood clots. Vitamin C helps in this as well, by inhibiting a blood factor that is used to build clots.
10. Cancer is the next frontier. Antioxidants may have an important role in the fight against cancer through their ability to neutralize the DNA-damaging free radicals. A huge amount of research is being done in this area right now, all around the world. The good news is that the therapies developed from natural substances will not be limited by the need for a physician's prescription.
11. Antioxidants are good for the brain, too. Because they prevent injury to blood vessel membranes, antioxidants can help to stabilize and even increase blood flow to the brain and the heart. The additional defense they offer against the DNA damage that is at the root of many cancers also helps lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia and even Alzheimer's disease.
12. The science is evidence-based, not anecdotal. One of the most important things to remember is that reporting on antioxidants is done by some publications and websites that are also touting crystal power and other spurious cures. The fact is that antioxidant research is being done by real scientists in real labs, in both private enterprise and at leading universities and teaching hospitals.
Information on antioxidants and the ongoing research into their applications can fill a good-sized library, and more is being learned all the time. Your best bet is to stick with the news that is being reported by responsible, mainstream journalists, notwithstanding the occasional media bias against treatments that are portrayed as being "alternative" or "complementary."
Read broadly, think clearly, ask questions of your doctor and always look for the original sources for any claims about the power of antioxidants. There are many reasons for hope, and the role of antioxidants in fighting both disease and the cell degradation that we call "again" is just starting to become clear. The next several years should see some amazing applications for antioxidant therapy, so stay tuned.
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