Antioxidants and Free Radicals
Our bodies are made up of many cells. Cells are made up of molecules and molecules are made up of atoms and they are held together by a chemical bond. Sometimes the bonds between these atoms break and leave the molecule with an unpaired electron, which then forms a free radical.
The free radical is going to be very unstable and will be on a mission to steal an electron from the closest healthy molecule it can find so it will become stable. When that molecule looses the electron to the free radical, it becomes a free radical itself and begins to search for an electron. If you havn’t figured it out it then forms a chain reaction which eventually can cause damage to a cell in a process called oxidation. Oxidation in our body damages our cells and other body structures. This can then damage our DNA or cause our cells to die.
Excessive cell death can cause inflammation. Inflammation, like we learned before, can cause aging and most major illnesses including: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, stroke, arthritis, Parkinson’s and unfortunately, many more.
The antioxidant neutralizes free radicals by sharing one of its electrons to stop the chain reaction. Our bodies naturally produce antioxidants, but because of the polution our bodies are exposed to daily sometimes our bodies cannot produce enough.
So, in conclusion, we need antioxidants to help prevent cell damage caused by free radicals.