Antioxidants and Free Radicals

Free radicals are oxygen molecules gone bad. Left over from cellular reactions, they bounce around the body in a rampage of destruction, only happy when they meet healthy tissue they can destroy. Free radicals eventually break down the body`s healthy tissues if allowed to go unchecked, causing premature aging, stiffening and a host of other ailments associated with becoming old before our time. Luckily, antioxidants in the form of vitamins E, C and Selenium can help fight free radicals before they do their damage.

Free radicals are formed when oxidation occurs. Oxidation is the process that causes rust to form on metal, and butter to go rancid. When a cell creates energy it allows oxygen and nutrients to pass through its membrane, and through a bio-chemical process duplicates itself. Oxygen molecules which are by-products of this process, or that have failed to bond to any cells and have not been absorbed into our blood stream, are now free to roam around within our bodies. Left over compounds from cellular reactions, free radicals eventually break down the body’s healthy tissues.

Free radicals in the body in very limited quantities are not a bad thing. They can devour viruses and bacteria. We have some free radicals as a natural result of forming the energy we need with our oxygen cells. However free radicals don’t enter our body through oxygen cells alone. Fried foods are loaded with free radicals because oxidation occurs more easily in fat molecules. Sun, pollution and radiation exposure also increases the presence of free radicals in our body.

The good news is that by supplying our body with an arsenal of power packed antioxidants, we can counter free radicals before they wreak their havoc. Antioxidants, abundant in Vitamin E, Selenium, Vitamin C, Zinc, Copper and Beta Carotene, catch the free radicals running around the body and devour them. By eating up free radicals before they collide with your healthy tissue, antioxidants help the body fight the aging process and the cellular damage that can ensue from free radical damage.

It is especially important for people with diabetes to take antioxidants. People with high blood glucose levels appear to increase the production of free radicals. Antioxidants are especially important to people with diabetes because of thier tendency to experience an increased rate of oxidative stress.