Regardless of what media outlet you receive your health and medical information from, it is likely that the term "antioxidant" is a familiar one. In fact, since the 1980's, antioxidants have been the indisputable star topic in the field of nutritional biochemistry.
What exactly are these compounds, and how do they function in the body?
Oxygen is obviously essential for life on earth, including the survival of humans. The utilization of oxygen does come with a price though. In the process of our use of oxygen, unstable molecules known as free radicals are created at the cellular level. These free radicals act in a "chain reaction" fashion, stealing stable electron partners from other cells, thus launching more free radicals and instability.
The damage occurring as a result of these compounds have been associated with over 100 disease processes, including heart disease, cancer, and aging.
It is estimated that each of the 60 trillion cells in the human body take 10,000 oxidative "hits" per second! If it were not for the ability of our bodies to scavenge these radicals, our bodies would degenerate at an extreme rate.
Antioxidant nutrients play a key role in our ability to protect against this oxidative damage. The most popular nutrients in this category are vitamins E & C, along with beta-carotene.
Our bodies also naturally produce antioxidant compounds such as lipoic acid, CoEnzymeQ10, and glutathione. However recent research findings have shown that human production of these naturally produced antioxidants is insufficient for optimal defense against oxidative damage.
Scientists are also extensively studying plant and seed production of antioxidants, which protect them from the effects of sunlight and oxygen. For example, lycopene from tomatoes, polyphenols from grapes, and lutein from plant sources, have been found to be much more protective than even vitamin C, when tested in human cells.
It is clear that a plant based diet, along with supplementation with a multi-nutrient formula containing a well-researched balance of antioxidant compounds, is an ideal approach to physical wellness and disease prevention.
Recommended book:
Formula For Life; The Anti-Oxidant, Free-Radical Detoxification
by Eberhard & Phyllis Kronhausen
Info/order this book
About The Author
Chuck Balzer is an adjunct faculty member at Brookdale College in Lincroft, NJ, and a Scientific Advisor and Marketing Representative for NutRx Natural Therapies in Princeton, NJ. He can be reached at (732) 793-3782 or
