They have received considerable attention both in the news and in the medical community as a possible way to reduce your risk of heart disease and also cancer. Antioxidants all act upon another group of compounds called free radicals. Free radicals are by-products which come from many normal events in the body. However they are incomplete molecules they are missing an electron. This makes them biologically active they are desperate to get the electron they need, and will attack anything nearby causing damage to vital components of the body.
Smoking is believed to lead to an increased production of free radicals above normal levels.
Antioxidants have been shown to act by neutralizing, or scavenging free-radicals, making them inactive and harmless. Three antioxidant vitamins in particular play an important role in scavenging free radicals and those are vitamins C, E and beta-carotene. Free radicals have been proposed to play a role in diseases such as heart disease, artery disease, cancer, arthritis and cataracts. So it is easy to see why antioxidants have received such attention. Unfortunately, that is not an easy question.