MOST people have probably heard that antioxidant-rich foods and supplements can benefit health, but many may not fully understand what antioxidants are or how they function in the body.
According to an article in biomolecules, the word antioxidant is one of the most confusing scientific terms that scientific literature does not clearly define.
This article takes an in-depth look at antioxidants, explaining what they are and how they affect health.
What are antioxidants?
Antioxidants are compounds that reduce or inhibit cellular damage through their ability to neutralize molecules called free radicals.
Free radicals are molecules that have one or more unpaired electrons in their outer orbit, making them unstable and highly reactive. The body creates them through normal endogenous metabolic processes, including energy production.
The body also produces them in response to environmental and lifestyle factors, such as sun exposure, smoking, alcohol consumption, and more.
Antioxidants inhibit a process called oxidation, which generates free radicals that leads to cellular damage. Antioxidants safely interact with free radicals, neutralizing them before they can cause damage to proteins, lipids, and DNA.
Oxidative stress occurs when there are too many free radicals in the body. This imbalance can occur due to increased production of free radicals or decreased antioxidant defenses.
Free radicals play an important role in the normal physiological functioning of the body and contribute to a person’s health. However, when the body produces an excess of free radicals, it can increase a person’s disease risk.
For example, many chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer, have links to progressive damage from free radicals.
For example, cells contain antioxidant enzymes that help reduce free radical levels. The primary antioxidant enzymes in the cells include superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione reductase (GRx).
These antioxidant enzymes are known as first-line defense antioxidants. They help regulate free radical levels by neutralizing both free radicals and other molecules that have the potential to become free radicals.
The body also produces metabolic antioxidants through metabolism. These include lipoic acid, glutathione, coenzyme Q10, melatonin, uric acid, L-arginine, metal-chelating proteins, bilirubin, and transferrin.
