What Are Antioxidants?

[biggysmalls]

Hey all
I know that antioxidants are good for you but I'm not exactly sure what they do.

What are antioxidants? What do antioxidants do?

bigs

[71DarkHorse]

Ahh, good question. In your body, you have lots free radicals. What is a free radical then? Your body is continually going through millions of chemical reactions every second and what is sometimes lost is a single electron. This free floating single electron is called a 'free radical' or an oxidant.

For those of you who haven't taken chemistry, electrons do not like to be by themselves, they prefer to be in electron pairs. This free radical (I'm not exactly sure why) is not in the body's best interest. So what an antioxidant does, is it binds that electron with another electron, notably a food source with an antioxidant.

The most common antioxidant is Vitamin C. It's chemical structure (it has OH bonds) will release a hydrogen to bond with the sole electron. You can get vitamin C from NUMBERUS citrus fruits, bananas, green leafy foods, etc.

Chaz

[71DarkHorse]

Ahh!! I have mispoken...it's Vitamin E that is the primary antioxidant. I was looking at the chemical structure of it today and realized I had mispoken on this post.

It still donates an electron to keep the free radical from pulling off other electrons from chemical structures your body uses.

Chaz

[lost]

do not have any idea of what it is and what it does to the body!

[Diana Lara]

Hi, BEST site to help you, is 2 google... "HOWSTUFFWORKS" WHAT IS AN ANTIOXIDANT....It has the best definition and what foods you should eat, lots of info.... WITHOUT all the big fluffy words. Hope this helps!!

[motof]

I try to add blueberries to everything I eat (cottage cheese, smoothies, shakes, etc) because they are loaded with anti-oxidants.