Research indicates, at the cellular level, that antioxidants may help in the pre

Question

Research indicates, at the cellular level, that antioxidants may help in the prevention of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and macular degeneration. How do they do this? Explain....

If they do offer benefits, then why, when people take these antioxidants in supplement form, have studies not shown the same benefits? Thoughts on the following articles/studies? (check out the links, below:)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/dont-take-your-vitamins.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20335555

http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/99/10/742.full

Explanation / Answer

Under certain conditions oxygen can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) which are highly reactive and show deleterious effect to the body system. These are free radicals attack vital molecules like protein, lipid and DNA and serve as lethal to cellular functions. Excess production of free radicals play a major role in pathophysiology of diseases like cancer, heart disease and macular degeneration, drug toxicity etc. The soruce of free radicals includes ischaemia, inflammation, phagocyte activity, peroxisomal metabolism etc. And external sources includes cigarette smoke, air pollutant, exposure to radiation, etc.

Antioxidants can reacts with these free radicals and neutralize the chain reaction and prevent vital molecules from damage. The various mechanism includes catalase and superoxide dismutase remove free radicals through enzymatic systems. Vitamin C and vitamin E are function as antioxidants donates oxygen to free radicals. Thus antioxidants play a major role in detoxification.

It should be noted that the population chosen for the study have clear deficiencies of specific supplements. Otherwise it is difficult to assess whether antioxidants supplements have effect on disease prevention or mortality.

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