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health:antioxidants

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Antioxidants

Antioxidants prevent cell damage from free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules created in the natural process of metabolism, and at an accelerated rate during exercise. Free radicals also form due to exposure from environmental sources such as cigarette smoke, air pollution or sunlight.

However, when it comes to antioxidants, they are not just purely beneficial:
https://www.dovepress.com/oxidative-stress-aging-and-diseases-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-CIA
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2013/03/antioxidants-more-is-not-always-better/index.htm
https://joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com/2012/11/19/anti-oxidants-a-disappointment-or-worse

There are many antioxidants, but ones that have been studied for supplementation include Vitamins, CoQ10, Polyphenols, Selenium, and Melatonin.

Vitamin C supplementation can have overall good health effects 1) 2) when supplemented above the Dietary Reference Intake, but it reduces performance gains from exercising:
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/87/1/142/4633311
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22777327

Low levels of CoQ10 has been associated with disease. Oral administration of CoQ10 has been frequently administered in treatment resulting in mild to significant symptomatic improvement. 3) 4)

Selenium dosage is sufficient through a healthy diet. Not enough or too high a dosage both lead to disease. An optimal dosage is still being researched. 5)

Antioxidants and Aging

Humans can live longer under certain types of stress (an effect of hormesis). When our body is stressed it upsurges its defenses. This can be seen with exercise, with starvation, and with many toxins (what toxins? please specify).

At an older age, the body isn't doing it's best to protect itself from damage. It willfully allows the damage to accumulate. Defensive programming is turned off and decay is allowed to overtake us. 6) 7)

Humaira Sarfraz 2019/07/15
Marcos Reyes 2019/07/15

3)
Garrido-Maraver J, Cordero MD, Oropesa-Ávila M, et al. Coenzyme q10 therapy. Mol Syndromol. 2014;5(3–4):187–197.
5)
Sanmartin C, Plano D, Font M, Palop JA. Selenium and clinical trials: new therapeutic evidence for multiple diseases. Curr Med Chem. 2011; 18(30):4635–4650.
health/antioxidants.1563641880.txt.gz · Last modified: 2019/07/20 16:58 by marcos