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When antioxidants become anti-health
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“Now with Antioxidants!” exclaims the fashionably bright colored label with friendly cartoonish like lettering - a claim that triggers the inner dialogue of many a health conscious consumer. “Hmm, well, it must be healthy because antioxidants are, well, whatever they are I know they are healthy and the more I can get the better.” Soon the item in question goes from hand to cart and is chalked up as another smart health-food purchase.
Ok, most likely you’re not quite as naive as the abovementioned consumer because you know what antioxidants are against; free radicals! Nothing that is radical should be free in your body, especially when it sounds eerily similar to the intoxicated and desponded youth of the 1960’s. Studies have shown excess free radicals to be responsible in everything from premature aging to pancreatitis. Antioxidants play a vital role in maintaining optimal health and impede havoc wreaking free radicals like a bouncer at the Monetary Pop Festival. But to really understand their true nature, we must shift our eyes and analogies to the stars because excess antioxidants can be pulled to the dark side and become free radicals!
Right now you may be thinking one of two thoughts.
The first thought being something along the lines of “once again Star Wars proves its merit when referenced to describe the complexities of bio chemistry”. The second thought being, “I’m one of five people who haven’t seen that movie so I don’t get it.” Not to worry, here is a short, simplified explanation of the relationship between free radicals and antioxidants.
Free Radical: an unstable (because it has an unpaired valence shell electron) molecule that can cause trouble in a cell. Free radicals want to be stable and in order to accomplish this just one more electron is needed, so it “steals” an electron from a neighboring molecule. Now the victim of electron theft is unstable, so it does what free radicals do and steals an electron from its adjacent molecule, leading to an endless cycle of electron lifting. This cascade of electron sharing can impair the cells ability to function and eventually can lead to premature cell death. Free radicals are formed naturally in the body but can be increased to unhealthy levels through environmental factors like pollution, cigarette smoke, diet and even exercise.
Antioxidant: a typically selfless electron donor. Some of the best known antioxidants are Vitamin C, Vitamin E and bête carotene. An antioxidant is essentially a substance which can protect the body’s cells against the damaging effects of oxidation such as that of the electron thieving free radical. One way it accomplishes this is by “donating” an electron to the free radical before the chain reaction of electron stealing begins, though unfortunately antioxidants don’t cease action here. As much as many health food manufactures want us to believe, not all antioxidants are infallible universal cell heroes. Stay tuned for part 2.
For more info: http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:9437876
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