THE ANTIOXIDANTS STORY #2

A Review of the Literature: A Definition and Identification

Before trying to discern the medical profession's view of antioxidants, it is good to review what exactly are antioxidants. A potentially confusing aspect of the term "antioxidant" is that it is applied to nearly a dozen different kinds of nutrients, botanicals and other supplements. As a result, literally hundreds of products are marketed as antioxidants or as having antioxidant properties. But what these products are all purported to have in common is the ability to significantly delay or prevent oxidation in the human body.

Oxidation is caused by free radicals--damaged molecules missing a free electron--that crash into stable molecules in an attempt to pick up their missing electron. When an initial free radical takes an electron from another molecule, the second molecule is then itself left unbalanced--setting off a chain reaction that can repeat a million or more times daily. This continual creation of free radicals can seriously damage proteins and cell membranes, compromise cells' natural defenses, disrupt cells' genetic DNA, and presumably make the human body more susceptible to cardiovascular disease, cancer and numerous other diseases and afflictions. It is also believed that free radicals are partially responsible for the aging process, as the cumulative effect of years of continual free radical reactions causes cells to become inefficient, damaged, mutated or even to die.

Free radical formation is impossible to completely negate, because it is largely caused by normal body functions of food and oxygen metabolism. In fact, oxidation is an essential physiological process that provides energy for vital cell processes and activities. Free radicals also are formed as a result of lipid (such as fats, oils and steroids) peroxidation. Finally, external factors such as excessive exercise, emotional stress, sun exposure, cigarette smoke, air pollutants, heavy metals and food additives can increase free radical formation.

Although oxidation is a basic physiological process, antioxidants are thought to be able to intervene to keep the process from running haywire by donating electrons to quench free radicals before they damage other molecules in cells. The beneficial activities of antioxidants include trapping free radicals and lipid peroxides, delaying the onset of lipid peroxidation, inhibiting production of free radicals, and inhibiting the damaging effects of certain enzymes that can degrade connective tissues.

Increasingly aware of these beneficial attributes, there are signs that the medical community is taking a greater role in trying to define and identify antioxidants. For example, the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM), founded by the National Academy of Sciences in 1970, published a 1998 report on antioxidants titled "Dietary Reference Intakes: Proposed Definition and Plan for Review of Dietary Antioxidants and Related Compounds." This report is a first step in the direction of potentially forming a comprehensive set of Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for selected antioxidant nutrients and food components. In the report, the authors, consisting of a panel of scientists, doctors and other experts, acknowledge that there has been intense interest among the public and the media as to the possibility that antioxidants may protect against chronic disease. To address this interest, the report attempts to provide a definition of dietary antioxidants, as well as identify the nutrients and food component that will be evaluated to potentially establish DRIs for these substances.

http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/articles/1999/01/winning-the-medical-community-over-to-antioxidants.aspx

http://www.depsyl.com/

http://back2basicnutrition.com/

http://bionutritionalresearch.olhblogspace.com/