Anti-Aging > Antioxidants
Antioxidants are a big seller in the anti-aging marketplace. The major players are vitamins C and E, resveratrol, glutathione, coenzyme Q10, but the list is so long that it's doubtful anyone could ever take them all.
An antioxidant is a molecular compound that can slow or prevent oxidation, a chemical process that transfers electrons to another substance and in the process produces free radicals that set-off even more interactions that can ultimately damage normal cells, a process known as oxidative stress. Some oxidation is necessary to keep certain key biological processes intact, but too much may lead to damage that results in disease or aging.
Antioxidants are a major component of over-the-counter supplements intended to ward off cancer and heart disease and many (make that most) other physical maladies, including, if you will, getting old. |
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While there are thousands of small studies to suggest that selected antioxidants may offer help, more recent large and better controlled clinical trials have not really shown measurable benefit (and sometimes have shown just the opposite). Pill makers and takers always have reasons to criticize negative studies, just as mainstream pharmaceutical companies downplay the validity of any favorable results.
Nevertheless, health food companies market antioxidants like they might be the very water that primes the Fountain of Youth. And while there are indeed studies to suggest aging may be slightly delayed by their use, there are also equally- bad studies to suggest they can hasten the process. Most rational scientists unassociated with the nutraceutical industry are doubtful about claimed benefits, but nobody really knows
And so everybody takes them, including the rational scientists.
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