But it can do only so much. Should its antioxidant defenses become too weak, or its free radical exposure become too great, it can suffer a catastrophic breakdown known as oxidative stress. In oxidative stress, free radicals run rampant within the body, corrupting and killing cells. On a global scale, oxidative stress has claimed more lives than all of the wars and plagues throughout human history. It causes all of the degenerative diseases that go hand in hand with aging.
Nothing causes more human misery or ends more lives prematurely.
Oxidative stress commits its greatest offenses at the cellular level. Rampaging free radicals injure the cell's membranes, compromising the delivery of nutrients and the removal of waste. They damage the mitochondria, impairing the production of energy. They break protein molecules, disrupting crucial enzyme systems. And they fracture DNA, causing the genetic mutations and uncontrolled cell divisions that eventually lead to cancer.