What are antioxidants?
Antioxidants protect cells against oxidation, which causes cells to age prematurely. Antioxidants protect cells against premature death or aging. While oxygen is essential for life, it also causes damage to living cells.
Antioxidants are for living cells as what sun tan does for the skin to protect against too much UV-A and UV-B exposure. Antioxidants like thiols (alpha lipoic acid) or ascorbic acid (vitamin C) help neutralize the damaging effects of oxidation.
Many anti-oxidants are abundant in regular food sources, while others need to be made out of these same food sources by the body itself.
Examples are glutathione, enzymes (superoxide dismutase) or vitamins as vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E.
