"The most powerful Antioxidant Drink on the Market"
What Are Antioxidants And Free Radicals?
Antioxidants neutralise free radicals. Free radicals are atoms or molecules which are missing an electron which makes them more chemically reactive than those with complete sets of electrons. In humans, the most common form of free radical is the oxygen free radical, that's why free radical damage is often called oxidation. Oxidation occurs all the time; it rusts iron, browns a sliced apple and turns cooking oils rancid. The oxygen free radical tries to steal electrons from other molecules, resulting in damage to DNA, cells and other molecules. Over time such damage may become irreversible and lead to diseases. Antioxidants have an anti-oxidising effect and help neutralise free radicals.
Just How Bad Are Free Radicals?
Free radicals chip away at the DNA, proteins, and fats in your cells, rendering them less able to do their jobs. For example, free radicals can mutate the genetic code in DNA so that it sometimes becomes cancerous, says Lester Packer, Ph.D., a professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley and author of The Antioxidant Miracle (Wiley & Sons, 1999). Excess free radical damage can lead to cancer, heart disease, macular degeneration, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, arthritis and can accelerate the ageing process.
Free radicals oxidise LDL ('bad') cholesterol, one of the earliest steps in the development of coronary artery disease, according to Ishwarlal 'Kenny' Jialal, M.D., a physician and vitamin E expert at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. In addition, free radicals stimulate production of beta-amyloid protein, which strangles brain cells in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Where Do Free Radicals Come From?
The vast majority of the free radicals in your body come from burning glucose (blood sugar) and fat for energy.
Other than that, just about anything that's bad for you produces or contains destructive free radicals. Free radicals enter your body when you breathe cigarette smoke, volatile chemical compounds like gasoline and various other types of polluted air. Bringing cooking oils with high levels of polyunsaturated fat to frying temperature generates huge numbers of free radicals. Different types of radiation including ultraviolet rays from the sun are dangerous because they split the water molecules in your skin cells creating free radicals. For example, blistering after a sunburn is the result of free radical destruction of skin cells.
Antioxidants Help Protect Your Body
Antioxidants have the ability to share their electrons with free radicals and neutralise them. This process renders the free radical harmless therefore preventing the free radical from causing damage.