Chemicals such as drugs, food additives, and preservatives, as well as cigarette smoke, pollutants, sunlight, radiation, emotional stress, and rancid fats all contribute to the free radical army. Eating a healthy diet and supplements bolster the defending antioxidant army. Free radicals are highly reactive forms of oxygen. As your body creates energy at the cellular level, oxygen is metabolized, changing its structure. In this process, the oxygen molecule loses one electron, turning it into a free radical.
Free radicals attack our cells.
When they attack blood vessels, it contributes to cardiovascular disease. Free radicals also attack us from the outside. Antioxidants are the defending army. Our bodies create antioxidants naturally, and we get them from the foods we eat and through supplements. By keeping free radicals at bay, antioxidants can influence how quickly we age and make the difference between health and disease, if not between life and death.