Antioxidants – the elixir of youth?

Under­stand­ing antiox­i­dants and what it does in your body. This is Part 1 of a two-​part arti­cle.

BY: Mayura Mohta

Antiox­i­dants are our guardian angels that pro­tect us from dis­ease and degen­er­a­tion. Most of us per­ceive antiox­i­dants as the first line of defence against age­ing and the result­ing infir­mi­ties com­monly called oxida­tive dam­age. Media-​hype and the sup­ple­ment indus­try tout them as magic pills to be had reg­u­larly for opti­mal health.

How­ever, the effect of antiox­i­dants on our body is com­plex and they tend to have a Jekyll-​and-​Hyde per­son­al­ity. Some stud­ies talk about the ben­e­fits whereas other stud­ies point to the dam­age they can cause. Before we arrive at any con­clu­sion, let’s first under­stand what are antioxidants:

What is an antioxidant?

Antiox­i­dants are free rad­i­cal quenchers. To under­stand antiox­i­dants and their effect on the body is it impor­tant to under­stand free rad­i­cals and oxidation.

So what are free radicals?

Free rad­i­cals are highly charged and unsta­ble mol­e­cules (hav­ing a sin­gle elec­tron), which desta­bilise other mol­e­cules by attach­ing to them – a process com­monly referred to as oxidation.

What is oxi­da­tion and how does it work?

Oxy­gen is the basis of all plant and ani­mal life. All body processes make use of oxy­gen to gen­er­ate energy. How­ever, oxy­gen is chem­i­cally reac­tive and eas­ily becomes unsta­ble, acquires a neg­a­tive charge and thus “oxi­dises “other mol­e­cules. Unless con­trolled, this can lead to a domino effect whereby many free rad­i­cal reac­tions are spawned, lead­ing to cel­lu­lar dam­age that trig­gers inflam­ma­tion, can­cer and age­ing. Free rad­i­cals are gen­er­ated through nor­mal meta­bolic processes and immune reac­tion where the free rad­i­cals destroy the pathogen. Exter­nal fac­tors such as pol­lu­tion, radi­a­tion, pes­ti­cides, smok­ing and trauma also results in oxida­tive dam­age due to cre­ation of free radicals.

Free rad­i­cals are dan­ger­ous if in excess but not always a bad thing.

So how do we con­trol these “hyper” molecules?

A large degree of con­trol is achieved by con­sum­ing a diet high in spe­cial nutri­ents called antiox­i­dants. These self-​sacrificing nutri­ents donate an elec­tron and neu­tralise the charged free rad­i­cal, thereby pre­vent­ing cel­lu­lar dam­age. Some anti-​nutrients can even stop the for­ma­tion of free rad­i­cals. The more antiox­i­dants you con­sume, the lesser will be the free rad­i­cal con­tent in the body and oxida­tive dam­age is hence con­trolled. Antiox­i­dant pro­tec­tion con­fers good health in the long run.

Epi­demi­o­log­i­cal stud­ies reveal the low inci­dence of spe­cific dis­eases such as heart dis­ease, can­cer, osteo­poro­sis, etc, in cer­tain coun­tries is directly related to spe­cific antioxidant-​rich nutri­ents in the regional diet. Some exam­ples are as follows:

• Toma­toes – Con­tain lycopene, an antiox­i­dant that pre­vents DNA from toxic damage.
• Cit­rus fruits like grape­fruit and oranges – Con­tain limonene, which boosts enzymes that elim­i­nate carcinogens.
• Green tea – Con­tain polyphe­nols that aid the liver in the elim­i­na­tion of toxins.
• Gar­lic, onions and leeks – Con­tain allyl sul­fides, which help reg­u­late liver enzymes and increase excre­tion of carcinogens.
• Cru­cif­er­ous veg­eta­bles (broc­coli, cab­bage, cau­li­flower, etc) – Con­tain sul­forane, that stim­u­lates liver enzymes to excrete toxic residues.
• Soy­beans – Con­tain isoflavones, which are antiox­i­dants and phy­toe­stro­gens that are anti-​cancer.
• Grapes and berries (straw­ber­ries, rasp­ber­ries, boy­sen­ber­ries, etc) – Con­tain antho­cyani­dins (flavenoids), which help to sta­bilise the walls of our blood vessels.

High con­cen­tra­tion of antiox­i­dants occurs in all coloured fruits and veg­eta­bles, espe­cially wheat and bar­ley grass, sprouts and dark green veg­eta­bles. Peo­ple who are con­stantly exposed to tox­ins from the envi­ron­ment or those with weak­ened immu­ni­ties should con­sume such foods reg­u­larly. Such peo­ple should avoid any processed foods as heat pro­cess­ing oxi­dises most nutri­ents mak­ing them ran­cid and harmful.

How do we pro­tect our Qi and how does this apply to antioxidants?

Qi is the body’s pro­tec­tive “yang” energy that pro­tects us from bac­te­ria, viruses and germs. This energy is dimin­ished by con­sump­tion of highly processed foods (low in antiox­i­dants). The “yang” pro­tec­tive energy is regained by eat­ing unprocessed foods (high in antiox­i­dants) such as whole grains, sea­sonal fruits, veg­eta­bles, spices and herbs.

Over­work or lethargy also reduces qi. Too much phys­i­cal and men­tal stress gen­er­ates free rad­i­cals. A bal­ance of work and wise eat­ing habits would be most suit­able for opti­mum health.

What are the dif­fer­ent types of antioxidants?

Antiox­i­dants can be clas­si­fied into two groups: Endoge­nous (made in the body) and exoge­nous (from diet or sup­ple­ments). The for­mer are far more potent than the lat­ter. Antiox­i­dants are either water-​soluble or fat-​soluble.

The body’s pro­duc­tion of endoge­nous antiox­i­dants declines with age lead­ing to age­ing and to the onset of chronic age-​related dis­eases. Boost­ing cel­lu­lar lev­els of antiox­i­dants through diet and sup­ple­ments could help con­trol and pre­vent age-​related diseases.

How do antiox­i­dants work in the body?

The extent of pro­tec­tion offered by antiox­i­dants depends on their inter­ac­tion with each other and with other metabo­lites or enzymes. They work in a syn­er­gis­tic man­ner and their ben­e­fi­cial effects are directly related to the con­cen­tra­tion and reac­tiv­ity with the free rad­i­cals present.

The syn­ergy of exoge­nous antiox­i­dants such as vit­a­mins C and E, and beta-​carotene, as well as endoge­nous antiox­i­dants such as glu­tathione, lipoic acid and coen­zyme Q10 is vital for dis­arm­ing oxi­dants properly.

The antiox­i­dant poten­tial of each food can be rated by check­ing the num­ber of ORAC (oxy­gen rad­i­cal absorbance capac­ity) units. Foods with high ORAC have bet­ter antiox­i­dant potential.

What is the dif­fer­ence between a phy­to­chem­i­cal and an antioxidant?

Phy­to­chem­i­cals or phy­tonu­tri­ents are chem­i­cals that the plant pro­duces to pro­tect itself from adver­sity. These chem­i­cals also give pig­men­ta­tion to the plant and is life-​sustaining sub­stances for the plant and us. They can act as an antiox­i­dant but per­form other roles as well. Antiox­i­dants, on the other hand, could be phy­to­chem­i­cals, vit­a­mins or min­er­als. Pop­u­lar exam­ples of phy­to­chem­i­cals that serve as antiox­i­dants are vit­a­mins C and E, and beta-​carotene.

Mayura Mohta is a bio­chemist and micro­bi­ol­o­gist, who founded social enter­prise Health­friend in 2010. The orga­ni­za­tion seeks to pro­mote wise eat­ing choices and healthy nutri­tional habits within the com­mu­nity for sus­tain­able well­ness and a bet­ter qual­ity of life, It does this through nutri­tion work­shops and sem­i­nars that bust com­mon food myths. Prof­its gen­er­ated are ploughed back into the local com­mu­nity, through var­i­ous char­i­ties in Sin­ga­pore and India that sup­port mal­nour­ished and under­priv­i­leged children.

(** Pic­tures cour­tesy of the writer. The straw­berry image is from stock.xchng from 885mech.)