Antioxidants Are True Superheroes
What are Antioxidants?
In the world of molecules, antioxidants are true superheroes. They are our bodies’ first line of defense against free radicals, which are unstable molecules that can wreak all kinds of havoc on cells, proteins and DNA. In order to understand why antioxidants are so important, we need to get acquainted with their enemies:
Free Radicals
Free radicals are formed within our bodies as by-products of normal aerobic respiration, metabolism, and inflammation. They also arise from environmental factors such as pollution, sunlight, or smoking.
Free radicals come in many shapes, sizes, and chemical configurations, but they all have at least one unpaired electron, making them highly unstable and reactive. They scavenge the body …show more content…
In doing so, the antioxidants themselves become oxidized, which is why there is a constant need to replenish our antioxidant resources.
Antioxidants work in one of two ways to neutralize free radicals: chain-breaking or chain-prevention. When a free radical steals an electron, a second radical is formed, beginning a chain reaction that will continue to generate unstable molecules until termination occurs—either the free radical is stabilized by a chain-breaking antioxidant, or it eventually decays. Other antioxidants work by scavenging “chain-initiating” free radicals, neutralizing them before an oxidative chain reaction can even begin.
Antioxidants are nutrients (vitamins and minerals) as well as enzymes (proteins in the body that assist in chemical reactions). Each one has unique chemical behaviors and biological properties. Antioxidants are not all the same, and they are not interchangeable. The effectiveness of any given antioxidant in the body depends on which free radical is involved, how and where it is generated, and where the site of damage is. In fact, technically the term “antioxidant” refers not to the substance itself, but to a chemical property (i.e. the ability to act as an electron donor) and a substance that in some cases acts as an antioxidant might in other circumstances have no effect at all, or even act as a “pro-oxidant” or electron
In the world of molecules, antioxidants are true superheroes. They are our bodies’ first line of defense against free radicals, which are unstable molecules that can wreak all kinds of havoc on cells, proteins and DNA. In order to understand why antioxidants are so important, we need to get acquainted with their enemies:
Free Radicals
Free radicals are formed within our bodies as by-products of normal aerobic respiration, metabolism, and inflammation. They also arise from environmental factors such as pollution, sunlight, or smoking.
Free radicals come in many shapes, sizes, and chemical configurations, but they all have at least one unpaired electron, making them highly unstable and reactive. They scavenge the body …show more content…
In doing so, the antioxidants themselves become oxidized, which is why there is a constant need to replenish our antioxidant resources.
Antioxidants work in one of two ways to neutralize free radicals: chain-breaking or chain-prevention. When a free radical steals an electron, a second radical is formed, beginning a chain reaction that will continue to generate unstable molecules until termination occurs—either the free radical is stabilized by a chain-breaking antioxidant, or it eventually decays. Other antioxidants work by scavenging “chain-initiating” free radicals, neutralizing them before an oxidative chain reaction can even begin.
Antioxidants are nutrients (vitamins and minerals) as well as enzymes (proteins in the body that assist in chemical reactions). Each one has unique chemical behaviors and biological properties. Antioxidants are not all the same, and they are not interchangeable. The effectiveness of any given antioxidant in the body depends on which free radical is involved, how and where it is generated, and where the site of damage is. In fact, technically the term “antioxidant” refers not to the substance itself, but to a chemical property (i.e. the ability to act as an electron donor) and a substance that in some cases acts as an antioxidant might in other circumstances have no effect at all, or even act as a “pro-oxidant” or electron