TheImpressiveXPlease remember to spread the word about this :(
Winter_OvenOn the topic, as oxidation is a pretty prevalent negative side effect of living, our body has multiple mechanisms to deal with it, no? So my question is: where do the "antioxidants" that we can eat come into the picture here? Are they like preventing oxidation from even occurring, or are they like the shields that our cells use to protect themselves from oxidative stress, or what have you?
peregrin5Oxidation is how red blood cells collect oxygen to pass to the rest of the body. In fact it is iron in hemoglobin that “rusts” to collect the oxygen.
Antioxidants have nothing to do with this.
ooh, then I must have gotten the terms wrong...
What I was thinking were the free radicals that are generated during basically most oxygen related reactions in the body, I thought that was called oxidation (at least, in terms of the body).
So, you know anything about how (or if) antioxidants are used against free radicals?
That actually depends on the type of antioxidant. The body has certain innate antioxidants (e.g. enzymes like catalase) to deal with reactive oxygen species but antioxidants that you get through your diet are also very important in that system (like vitamin c and e to prevent oxidation of cell membranes for example). Also some phytochemicals (like polyphenols) can act as an antioxidant.