Hello! I enjoyed reading the article and I gave you my full upvote. I spent several years working with radicals and ROS and I would like to emphasize several points.
Free radicals are a type of molecular compound that has 1 unpaired electron in an atomic orbital, which makes them very reactive
If the molecular structure is large, with some alternating single-double bounds or if there are many connected rings free radicals become - stable. Stable for years. Some typical examples include leaf litter, bitumen, some mineral oils, tar...
cigarette smoke introduce a large number
Anecdote: after smoking nearby EPR, the cavity must be cleaned. It's some *C radical mainly.
we can at least destroy the ROS themselves.
This is a tricky part because if the wrong molecule "takes the bullet", instead of *OH radical for example we will get *C (new problem). In other words, good antioxidant must stay stable after the reaction with radical.
Antioxidants are usually "produced by our body" in the case of Down Regulation
I'm not sure I've understood this :(
I don't really think that antioxidants are necessary
I agree with you, I don't see the reason for some supplement overdose. Also, don't fall under the influence of marketing that "StrangeBerry from Nepal" has 25.000x higher antiox capacity. The test used biologically irrelevant radical and it had so many flaws that it was retracted.
And I remember the meta-study about the influence of very high doses of Vitamine E. The conclusion was that people who took high doses actually had a shorter life.
As the conclusion, always keep in mind that the pathway from the pill to the interior of the cell is very, very long and difficult for any molecule. Eating crazy amount of antioxidants could easily mean very expensive pee :)
Thanks again, you got a new follower
Wow! Thanks for the extra information and for the expansion of some of the points I made.
In my opinion, all of the antioxidants marketing is just to get you paying for extra supplements that you will not need. Having a good diet with lots of veggies and fruits can supply all the antioxidants you need. One day I will investigate how much could be depending on the fruit, and if it is interesting enough, a post would be on the way! :D
Thank you!
Yep, unless one has a deficiency in the molecule (vitamin E etc.) Supplementation won't do much. Our bodies pretty tightly regulate the concentrations of these sorts of things.