Questions I often get asked are: what exactly do 'antioxidants' do?
Should we take an antioxidant product and if so, what would I recommend as being a good product?' Quoting 'Wikipedia', 'an antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidising agent'. Although oxidation reactions are crucial for life, they can also produce 'free radicals' which can be damaging, hence plants and animals maintain complex systems of multiple types of antioxidants. However environmental pollution, smoking, radiation, poor food choices and high stress levels will all demand that antioxidant intake often needs to be increased as the overall level of antioxidants has to be kept adequate to prevent oxidative stress which may damage or kill cells.
Many types of disease have been blamed on inadequate antioxidant levels. The brain in particular is vulnerable to oxidative injury. Cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases and macular degeneration are all known to be of lower risk in people who have a higher intake of antioxidants. It is thought that antioxidants may be protective against a number of types of cancer.
Many products are marketed as having antioxidant properties and this is quite correct, they have. Examples would be any product containing: vitamins A, C or E, Glutathione, Lipoic acid, Co-enzymeQ10 or antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dimutase (SOD) and catalases or other antioxidant chemicals such as resveratrol and proanthocyanins, or herbs that contain antioxidants such as green tea.
Minerals such as Zinc and Selenium are commonly referred to as 'antioxidant nutrients' as they are required for the activity of some antioxidant enzymes, but have no direct antioxidant action themselves. The problem is simply stating that a product contains antioxidants does not mean that it is necessarily going to make a huge difference to a person's antioxidant levels, most will just contribute, eating lots more fruit and veges will do the same thing.
In my experience it can also be quite difficult to determine how effective an antioxidant product is and there appear to be only a few that actually have significant effect.
I have come to this conclusion partially through watching the results reported by patients taking various products and also by the use of a 'Free Radical Urine test' kit that checks an individual's level of free radical excretion, via a simple urine test. If a person's free radical level is low then it could be presumed that dietary intake was adequate and there would be no point in taking a (usually) very expensive antioxidant supplement. However if a person was already taking an antioxidant product and found via this test that their antioxidant level was still high (after having taken the product for at least 2-3 months) then the conclusion can be drawn that either the dose is too low or the product is not effective enough.
I have in the Clinic several products that I have found to be effective. Unfortunately I am unable to list product names in a news-letter but feel free to email me for more information.
All these products cost between $60 and $70 per month. Nothing inexpensive there, but perhaps if you were living very laid back and healthy life style then a lower dose or cheaper product may be OK.
For more information refer to the article on Antioxidants.
Good Health to all,
Alison
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