Vitamania our obsessive quest for nutritional perfection catherine price
Needless to say, without the presence of antioxidants, free radicals can really ruin the party. They’re like the patient friend who is able to convince the free radical not to drive home, takes him to the back room to calm him down, and brings him water and a bucket once he starts throwing up. Antioxidants are molecules that are able to donate an electron to the free radical, thus stabilizing it. Free radicals are like the unstable friend who shows up drunk to the party and starts breaking things. They really don’t like being alone, so are always searching out other electrons. Unpaired electrons are attention seekers. Of course, like most phenomena affecting our health, it’s not that simple.įree radicals are molecules or atoms containing an unpaired electron. There appears to be a continued public misconception ( encouraged by the supplement industry) that free radicals are bad, and that antioxidants are good.