The Mythos and Logos of Antioxidants

If you've watched, read, or heard news over the last few years, you've probably heard a few words of these words: Antioxidants. Free radicals. Cancer. Green tea.

What does any of this mean, though?

It's time for you to enroll in Biology 101.

Cancer is a somewhat incurable disease which is diagnosed by the presence of cancerous cells. Cancerous cells are typically cells which interfere with the functioning of other cells in the body, and whose expiration dates have, for lack of a better term, expired. When a carcinogen enters the body, it can disrupt the natural life cycle of cells it encounters. These cells then effectively stop, or change, their duties. One of the changes is that they won't die naturally, so they continue to reproduce and function regardless of how long they are alive. They also discontinue a respect for normal tissue boundaries, which allows cancer to spread in a process called metastasis through the blood or the lymph system. You can read a short explanation of what cancer is on Wikipedia.

Now for free radicals. According to common scientific law, radicals are ions, molecules, or atoms with unpaired electrons. As chemists have taught us, radicals are usually highly reactive. Radicals can be produced by oxidation, which is simply the loss of an electron. These radicals, in theory, can damage cells - which has the potential of turning them cancerous.

Antioxidants help to prevent oxidation by removing free radicals, or by becoming oxidized themselves.

Now, oxidation is not this crazy new thing we need to be worried about. As a matter of fact, it's a normal (and requisite) process for life. With the potential for damage, however, it is important to keep it in check.

But for now, antioxidants as a preventative measure for health remains largely unstudied and inconclusive. While there are many claims of the cancer-preventing properties of green tea, for example, the bad news is that there is no well-tested evidence for this which is reproducible in all cases.

The good news, though, is that fruits and vegetables are proven to be rich in compounds that are essential for good health and that they are wonderfully helpful for losing and maintaining weight.

The trick here is not to excuse your behaviors with other behaviors. If you smoke cigarettes, stop. It is not okay to assume drinking a cup of green tea and eating a handful of blueberries will prevent any danger of cancer.

The other trick is to accept that there is currently no completely-effective preventative measure against cancer - or anything else (barring genetic disorders such as autism or sickle-cell anemia, of course). There are ways to cut down your chances, but there will always be a chance.

But for now, there's also a much larger chance you won't. At this point, the best defense is knowledge. For a full range of information, try Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine.