If you pay attention to health news or just read the labels in the grocery aisle, you're probably familiar with the idea that antioxidants are beneficial to your health. Judging by some of the information available, you might even think that antioxidants are a veritable fountain of youth.
As is often the case, the truth is a little less clear cut than the hype. However, antioxidants are indeed vital to your health, and there are some simple ways for people to maintain healthy levels of antioxidants, which may slow the aging process, says Garry Buettner, PhD, professor of radiation oncology in the Free Radical and Radiation Biology Program.
Oxidation is a vital cellular process. Your body oxidizes food, breaking it down to carbon dioxide and water to capture its energy. But oxidation, which is the same chemical process as rusting, must be kept in check. Uncontrolled oxidation eventually causes cells and tissues to die and organs to fail. Poorly controlled oxidation seems to contribute to age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's, heart disease, and cancer.
Antioxidants, as their name suggests, are the body's defense against unwanted oxidation. Some antioxidants are preventive—they don't let any of the harmful oxidation processes get started. And there are "chain-breaking" antioxidants, which can shut down potentially damaging oxidation before it gets out of control.
Unwanted oxidation
"Your body has enzymes that take care of most of the unwanted oxidation, keeping it at safe and healthy levels," Buettner says. "You also get nutritional antioxidants, especially vitamins C and E, from food."
Uncontrolled oxidation also appears to be part of the aging process itself. When researchers genetically boost levels of antioxidant enzymes in mice, those animals live longer than their unaltered counterparts. However, for humans, gene manipulation of this sort is not an option. On the other hand, maintaining our antioxidant system may help to slow aging.
Imagine your cells are like batteries that need to maintain a certain voltage for all the processes to work properly. Antioxidants help maintain that correct voltage. As you age, your bodies appear to gradually lose some of their capacity for maintaining the correct "voltage." However, a good diet can help to slow this decline.
Eat colorful foods
Good nutrition is key in providing our bodies with antioxidants and helping the body's antioxidant systems work at optimal levels, Buettner says. In particular, vitamins C and E have to come from food because our bodies don't make them. These antioxidants come from citrus fruits and leafy greens and generally work inside cells as chain-breaking antioxidants.
The body's enzyme antioxidants also benefit from good nutrition—they need trace elements like selenium and zinc in order to work properly. Two of the three main pathways controlling one kind of oxidation need selenium, which can be found in Brazil nuts and garlic.
"In general, a balanced diet with a high proportion of low-calorie, nutrient-rich foods is necessary to keep cellular processes, including antioxidant systems, running smoothly," Buettner says. "Supplements are probably helpful too, although it is not clear how well the body absorbs nutrients from pills as compared to food."
In addition, it is likely that antioxidants by themselves do not provide all the benefits. It may, in fact, be the natural combination of antioxidants with trace elements and other nutrients that we find in healthy foods that is most beneficial.
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