What Are Free Radicals & Antioxidants?

Free radicals are a natural by-product of the body turning food into energy (ATP). The body has mechanisms to deal with these free radicals, because they are highly dangerous left to their own devices. Excess free radicals are a problem because they attack the body itself, damaging key cellular molecules such as DNA. Cells with damaged DNA may be more prone to developing cancer. Free radical activity has also been implicated in premature ageing, heart disease, arthritis, cataract formation, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc.

An excess of free radicals can be caused by:

• ** smoking
• ** sunbathing
• ** frying food
• ** infections
• ** excessive exercise (note normal exercise does not have this effect!)
• ** stress
• ** radiation
• ** polluted environments

You can see from this list that most of us will be producing far too many free radicals for the normal body processes to cope with, so we need to be sure that we take in enough anti-oxidants to de-activate these excess free radicals.

A lot of the symptoms of ageing are signs of free radical damage. When cell membranes are attacked by free radicals they either become hardened so that nutrients cannot get into the cells, or they may be punctured so that the cell collapses as the cell fluid drains out. In the skin this leads to skin which is leathery or wrinkled and sagging; in the joints this causes the synovial fluid to lose its lubricating quality and cause stiffness, in cells it may damage the DNA causing inappropriate cell division and the possibility of cancer, etc.

So where do you find anti-oxidants? The main sources are fresh fruit and vegetables. This is part of the reason we are now being urged to eat more of these vital substances.

Different antioxidants work in different areas of the body, so the key is to eat as wide a range of antioxidants as possible. This means eating fruit and vegetables of different types and different colours. Eat green and red grapes, eat orange fruit and vegetables, try new fruit and vegetables.

Because of the high levels of stress that many people experience with modern life, most people benefit from taking an antioxidant supplement.