Antioxidants

Antioxidants are substances that help protect the human body against damage caused by highly reactive molecules known as free radicals, which accelerate aging and contribute to the development of numerous diseases, including cancer and heart disease, two of the leading killers in the United States.

Free radicals

Free radicals are molecules with an odd or unpaired electron that damage DNA in human cells. Normal metabolic processes generate free radicals, but substances such as pesticides, tobacco smoke, radiation and other environmental pollutants can significantly increase free radical production in the body. Free radical damage to human cells can be compared to the oxidation of metal, which results in rust. The human body faces a continual onslaught of free radicals: Dr. Bruce N. Ames, a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, speculates that cells in the human body are exposed to about 10,000 free radical attacks each day.

Damaged DNA

Because free radicals have an odd or unpaired electron, they are constantly searching for another electron to create a stable pair. When a free radical takes an electron from a cell in the body, it creates another free radical that is also missing an electron, resulting in a continuous process in which free radicals are regenerated. This process damages cellular DNA and leads to disease and acceleration of the aging process.

The following is a more detailed description of how free radicals damage DNA:

1. Free radicals attach thymine, one of the four nucleotide bases in DNA.
2. As a result, thymidine glycol is formed.
3. The structure of oxidized thymidine changes to a cluster.
4. The cell attempts to repair the damaged part of the DNA by replacing it with new DNA.
5. Numerous DNA repairs lead to more cellular mutations.
6. Cellular mutations can lead to malignant growth.

Rancid Fats and Cellular Destruction

Free radicals also cause damage by turning fats in the body rancid. This process creates liposuscin, a brown waste product that leaves age spots on the hands and interferes with synaptic communication in the brain. Lipofuscin deposits are also found in the liver, eyes, heart and other organs. At age 30, the amount of intracellular lipofuscin is about 35 percent; at age 90, lipofuscin levels skyrocket to 78 percent.

Free radicals can also destroy cell membranes, interfering with cells’ ability to take in nutrients and expel waste, and rupture cell lysosmes, thus directly entering cells and destroying their contents.