Your body’s cells face threats every day. Viruses and infections attack them. Free radicals also can damage your cells and DNA. Some cells can heal from the damage, while others cannot. Scientists believe molecules called free radicals can contribute to the aging process. They also may play a part in diseases like cancer, and diabetes. Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that produces free radicals and chain reactions that may damage the cells of organisms. Antioxidants such as thiols or ascorbic may act to inhibit these reactions. To balance oxidative stress plants and animals maintain complex systems of overlapping antioxidants such as glutathione.

 Antioxidants came to public attention in the 1990s when scientists began to understand that free radical damage was involved in the early stages of artery-clogging atherosclerosis. It was also linked to cancer, vision loss, and a host of other chronic conditions. Some studies showed that people with low intakes of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables were at greater risk for developing these chronic conditions than were people who ate plenty of those foods.

Antioxidants supplements are popular and commonly considered healthy. In part, this is because fruits and vegetables which are rich in antioxidants are associated with many health benefits, including a reduced risk of disease. The only dietary antioxidants are vitamins A, C, and E. While fruits and vegetables are rich sources of antioxidant vitamins and can be part of a healthy diet.  

What are antioxidants?

The term antioxidant is derived from Greek anti; meaning against, and the oxidant meaning a substance that can cause oxidation or is oxidizing in action.

Antioxidants are man-made or natural substances that may prevent or delay some types of cell damage. Antioxidants may be defined as substances that when present in food, delay control or inhibit oxidation and deterioration of food quality. Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation. Diets and vegetables are rich sources of antioxidants.

Examples of antioxidants include vitamins C and E, selenium, and carotenoids such as beta carotene, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin.

Do antioxidants prevent cancer?

Antioxidants are often touted as must-haves for optimal health, particularly when it comes to fighting diseases like cancer.

The compounds, which are present in foods and available as supplements, can play a key role in fighting free radicals. But they aren’t a cure-all, and some sources of antioxidants are more beneficial than others. Here’s a look at how antioxidants work, their role in preventing or treating cancer, and the best ways to get your fill.

• Antioxidants can play a role in cancer prevention: Free radicals are unstable atoms that can damage cellular DNA in the body, which is thought to play a role in the development of cancer.
• Antioxidant supplements likely aren’t worth it:  If antioxidants from food are good, it’s easy to assume that high-dose antioxidant supplements are even better. But there’s no evidence that antioxidant supplements can prevent cancer or other diseases. Very high doses of certain antioxidants may increase the risk of some cancers.
• If you are facing cancer it’s important to focus on good nutrition overall:  Taking antioxidant supplements during cancer treatment doesn’t seem to have beneficial effects, in some cases, it could lead to worse outcomes. It’s never a bad idea to focus on getting antioxidants from fruits and vegetables, including when you have cancer.
• You can get your antioxidant fill from food: The body makes some of its antioxidants to fight free radicals, and you can get plenty more by eating a healthy diet. Brightly colored fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes, carrots, spinach, broccoli, sweet potatoes, strawberries, and citrus fruits, are top sources. Whole grains, nuts, seeds, and wheat germ serve up antioxidants too. Antioxidant cancer-fighting foods:

One possible reason why many studies on antioxidant supplements do not show a health benefit is that antioxidants tend to work best in combination with other nutrients, plant chemicals, and even other antioxidants.

Vegetables and fruit tend to be packed full of antioxidants. Eating a wide variety of them can help ensure you get a diverse range of different antioxidants to optimize your health. There are hundreds of antioxidants not only in fruit and vegetables but in nuts, seeds, olive oil, and whole grains.

You can get the following antioxidants from these food sources:

• Vitamin A – liver, sweet potatoes, carrots, milk, and egg yolks
• Vitamin C – broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower
• Vitamin E – almonds, avocado, leafy greens
• Carotenoids – apricots, asparagus, broccoli
• Zinc – beef, oysters, pumpkin seeds
• Selenium – Brazil nuts, fish, shellfish
• Beta-carotene – carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, spinach
• Lycopene – tomato, watermelon, grapefruit.

Conclusion:

The use of antioxidants can be beneficial in this respect as they minimize the burden of free reactive radicals in cells and thus can decrease the duration of chemotherapy regimens. Despite nearly two decades of research investigating the use of dietary antioxidant supplementation during conventional chemotherapy, controversy remains about the efficacy and safety of this complementary treatment. However, other data suggest that antioxidants can protect normal tissues from chemotherapy-induced damage without decreasing tumor control.