Antioxidant
hideAn antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves. As a result, antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols, ascorbic acid or polyphenols.
Although oxidation reactions are crucial for life, they can also be damaging; hence, plants and animals maintain complex systems of multiple types of antioxidants, such as glutathione, vitamin C, and vitamin E as well as enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase and various peroxidases. Low levels of antioxidants, or inhibition of the antioxidant enzymes, causes oxidative stress and may damage or kill cells.
As oxidative stress might be an important part of many human diseases, the use of antioxidants in pharmacology is intensively studied, particularly as treatments for stroke and neurodegenerative diseases. However, it is unknown whether oxidative stress is the cause or the consequence of disease. Antioxidants are also widely used as ingredients in dietary supplements in the hope of maintaining health and preventing diseases such as cancer and coronary heart disease. Although initial studies suggested that antioxidant supplements might promote health, later large clinical trials did not detect any benefit and suggested instead that excess supplementation may be harmful. In addition to these uses of natural antioxidants in medicine, these compounds have many industrial uses, such as preservatives in food and cosmetics and preventing the degradation of rubber and gasoline.
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News tagged with antioxidants
Nut Roasting Benefits: Antioxidant levels of nuts increases after roasting
Dec 22, 2009 |
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The chemical reaction that darkens a batch of roasting peanuts also boosts the amount of antioxidants they contain, according to a new study in the journal Food Chemistry.
Biodiesel refinery hopes to finally begin soon
Dec 15, 2009 |
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Starting up a new business is tough, but starting up in a new industry can be even tougher. That helps explain why the city's cutting-edge biodiesel refinery, one of a handful of its kind in the country, hasn't begun production ...
Roasting Does More than Enhance Flavor in Peanuts
Dec 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have shown that increasing roast color intensity steadily ramps up the antioxidant capacities of peanuts, peanut flour and peanut skins.
Saving the single cysteine: new antioxidant system found (w/ Video)
Nov 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single ...
New evidence that dark chocolate helps ease emotional stress
Nov 11, 2009 |
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The "chocolate cure" for emotional stress is getting new support from a clinical trial published online in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research.
Ice cream researchers making sweet strides with 'functional foods' (w/ Video)
Nov 09, 2009 |
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A comfort food, a tasty treat, an indulgence - ice cream conjures feelings of happiness and satisfaction for millions. Ice cream researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered ways to make ice cream ...
Chocolate rich in flavanols may protect the skin from UV
Nov 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study has discovered for the first time that dark chocolate rich in flavanols may provide significant protection from the harmful effects of ultraviolet light.
Curry-cure? Spicing up the effectiveness of a potential disease-fighter
Nov 04, 2009 |
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Scientists are reporting development of a nano-size capsule that boosts the body's uptake of curcumin, an ingredient in yellow curry now being evaluated in clinical trials for treatment of several diseases. ...
Processed, high-fat foods linked with depression
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- People who eat a diet laden with processed and high-fat foods may put themselves at greater risk of depression, according to UCL (University College London) research published today.
Scientists discover influenza's Achilles heel: Antioxidants
Oct 29, 2009 |
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As the nation copes with a shortage of vaccines for H1N1 influenza, a team of Alabama researchers have raised hopes that they have found an Achilles' heel for all strains of the flu—antioxidants. In an article appearing in ...
Scientists identify roots of diabetic tissue damage
Oct 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Results from comprehensive assessments of diabetes' effects on cell metabolism may aid efforts to reduce diabetic damage to nerves, blood vessels and other tissues, according to researchers at Washington ...
Could antioxidants make us more, not less, prone to diabetes? Study says yes
Oct 06, 2009 |
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We've all heard about the damage that reactive oxygen species (ROS) - aka free radicals - can do to our bodies and the sales pitches for antioxidant vitamins, skin creams or "superfoods" that can stop them. In fact, there ...
Higher folates, not antioxidants, can reduce hearing loss risk in men
Oct 05, 2009 |
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Increased intakes of antioxidant vitamins have no bearing on whether or not a man will develop hearing loss, but higher folate intake can decrease his risk by 20 percent, according to new research presented at the 2009 American ...
Eat soybeans to prevent diseases
Sep 29, 2009 |
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Soybeans contain high levels of several health-beneficial compounds including tocopherols, which have antioxidant properties. These molecules can be used in the development of functional foods, which have specific health-beneficial ...
Antioxidant controls spinal cord development
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Sep 18, 2009 |
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Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered how one antioxidant protein controls the activity of another protein, critical for the development of spinal cord neurons. The research, publishing this ...
