If you take the latest studies at face value, antioxidants may possess the power to smooth wrinkles, cancel cancer and diminish the threat of heart disease.

Yet, amidst all this positive press, a couple of key questions seem to have strayed AWOL. Namely, what exactly are antioxidants? And why do they make scientists' eyes light up?

Oxygen Angst

To make a long story short, we need antioxidants because we live in a world filled with destructive oxygen and we suck the stuff in with every breath. If we could do without O2, we could then live without antioxidants. (We might also be able to walk on the moon without a tank of air on our backs.) Still, on this best of all possible earths, our cells demand oxygen and we have to live with the reactive consequences.

Just as your house or apartment probably uses an oxidative process (burning some sort of fuel) to heat your living quarters, your body uses oxidation for energy and to kill off infectious invaders (kind of like using fire to attract and kill moths).

Similar to the fire in your home, oxidation in your body can spring out of control. But instead of burning holes in your house's walls, metabolic oxidation can burn holes in your cell structures.

Let's define our terms: oxidation is basically the process whereby oxygen combines with other molecules. Metal turns to rust via oxidation. Muscles get their get-up and go from oxidation. When a sliced apple turns brown-that, too, represents oxidation.

Electron Magic

How does oxygen make old car bumpers turn yucky and fall apart while also enabling Barry Sanders to zig zag across a football field? Both are attributable to oxygen's unique molecular structure: its ability to combine with a wide range of other substances due to its wanderlust electrons.

Under most circumstances an atom of oxygen possesses two electrons that contentedly circle its nucleus. Liberate one of those electrons (which often happens during metabolic processes inside your cells) and you a create useful tool for making things happen in mitochondria (where a cell makes energy). You also create a cell's worst nightmare-a highly unstable, reactive, atom called a "free radical." These free radicals contain an uneven number of electrons and, like drunk cowboys on Saturday night, are looking for trouble. As soon as free radicals are formed, the unleashed electrical forces can react with cell membranes and other cell parts, warping their structures, often destroying cell pieces in the process. To make matters worse, these free radicals may bond with other atoms or molecules, forming more free radicals in a chain reaction of microscopic havoc.

March of the Free Radicals

Although the most significant free radicals emerge from interactions with oxygen, our postmodern environment contains a plethora of substances ready to upset the electron balance, form free radicals and deconstruct your cell membranes. In fact, studies have shown that virtually all of the major risk factors for cancer are associated with increased production of free radicals, including these noxious annoyances:

n Tobacco smoke

n Electromagnetic radiation

n Ultraviolet light (sunlight)

n X rays

n Air pollution

n Carcinogenic chemicals such as paraquat, potassium cyanide and carbon tetrachloride.

Winter for Health

In the body, free radicals roll about like so many atomic loose cannons, destroying whatever they touch. Unchecked, these little areas of destruction can turn into widespread cellular damage and disease.

Free radicals are particularly partial to linking with the lipids (fats) that form cell membranes, damaging them in much the same way that exposure to air makes cooking oils rancid or a day on the beach gives oxidized fish (oil) a spoiled odor.

Exposure to free radicals can lethally alter the cells that line your arteries and veins, weakening these vessels, making them more susceptible to rupture and attracting artery clogging plaque that develops into hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). To accelerate this artery destruction, free radicals alter the lipids (fats) that float in the bloodstream, quickening the formation of those arterial fatty deposits and causing platelets (clotting blood cells) to grow "sticky," increasing the risk of blood clots.

Free Radical Target Practice

Free radicals also target the proteins that make up DNA, reordering the molecular blueprint for cellular development. In some cases, these DNA revisions are harmless. But often, free radical-induced changes lead to haywire changes in cellular function and reproduction, including the abnormal and uncontrolled growth of cancer cells.

However, the same destructive power that renders free radicals so dangerous to human cells can be harnessed to protect cells from infectious invaders. Directed against harmful microorganisms, free radicals tear these diminutive miscreants to pieces. Plus, free radicals catalyze (or start) several important enzymatic reactions. But here, too, when an excessive number of free radicals collect, these processes can go terribly wrong, destroying healthy cells and disrupting metabolism.

The Cellular Bomb Squad

Fortunately for our cell membranes and DNA, the body is equipped with potent defenses that can defuse the explosive threat of free radicals. Antioxidant enzymes convert free radicals to more neutral, benign forms. Food-derived antioxidants can neutralize free radicals by linking up with them.

Three main enzyme systems function as free radical neutralizers: superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase.

Even under the best of circumstances, the antioxidant enzymes can only partly stymie free radicals. To take up the slack, nutrients provide us with a variety of antioxidants that scavenge loose free radicals, capturing their excess electrons and preventing them from causing serious damage. Most of these antioxidant nutrients are found in or are derived from vegetarian foods, particularly leafy greens and red-pigmented fruits and vegetables. Aside from linking directly with free radicals, these nutrients also further the activity of antioxidant enzymes. These nutrients encompass:

n Minerals, particularly selenium and zinc

n Vitamins: notably E and C

n Phytochemicals, particularly plant pigments such as the carotenoids (which can also be converted in the body to vitamin A), including lycopene, and flavor-giving compounds called flavonoids.

Plant-derived antioxidants have received a great deal of scientific attention in recent years, with good reason: epidemiological studies have conclusively shown that people who consume lots of fruits and vegetables are less likely to develop cancer and heart disease, and the cells that are most at risk of free radical damage (such as those in the lens of the eye) are naturally high in the antioxidant nutrients found in vegetarian foods. More importantly, deficiencies in these nutrients are common in older people, a group likely to show the effects of free radical damage.

Researchers are now investigating how we can exploit the benefits of dietary antioxidants to prevent not only disease, but also the wear and tear of aging. Experts universally agree on the importance of chomping plenty of vegetables and fruits and research has gradually established the benefits of supplementing with antioxidant nutrients.

Ante Up the Antioxidants

Researchers have uncovered a treasure trove of health benefits connected with taking vitamin E and C supplements. Vitamin E supplementation has shown promise in treating Alzheimer's disease, preventing heart attacks and boosting immunity. Scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine recently reported that vitamin C and E supplements - when taken before a high fat meal - actually promote more relaxed blood vessels, possibly preventing cardiovascular problems.

In designing your antioxidant program, start with healthy doses of fruits and vegetables to assure yourself a wide variety of nutrients. Then add a multivitamin and mineral, plus an extra helping of vitamins E and C, selenium (follow directions on the package), add specialized supplements like ActiVintm (a grape seed extract shown to be effective at guarding cell membranes from free radical damage), bioflavonoids, mixed carotenoids and possibly lycopene (a carotenoid that gives tomato its red color).

All those antioxidants should add up to a large sum of better health.

Recommended Reading:

The Real Vitamin & Mineral Book: Using Supplements for Optimum Health (2d) (Avery) by Shari Lieberman, PhD and Nancy Bruning.

Food - Your Miracle Medicine: How Food Can Prevent and Cure Over 100 Symptoms and Problems. (HarperPerennial) by Jean Carper.