Antioxidant products have always been popular in the health supplement market, and there are many girls around me who are supplementing with vitamin E, but when I ask why vitamin E supplementation and what are the benefits of supplementing it, they can't say why, just heard that vitamin E has antioxidant and fertility improvement effects.
It can be seen that people do not understand antioxidants, and many people mistakenly think that antioxidants are anti-aging, and even associate them with "beauty" and "skin care" and other effects.
But in fact, these perceptions are all wrong, and some antioxidants not only do not delay aging, but even increase the risk of cancer and early death.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > starts with the theory of free radical aging</h1>
The reason why antioxidant products are popular all over the world is to start from the theory of free radical aging.
This theory was first proposed by Harman in 1950, who believed that biological aging is the result of the accumulation of oxidative damage to cells, and free radicals are the main cause of oxidative damage to cells.
Later generations deduced from this: if free radicals can be reduced or extinguished, then the aging process will be delayed or terminated, and the way to achieve this is to supplement antioxidants.
I think the theory of free radical aging is correct but incomplete, and the use of antioxidants to delay aging has been shown to be ineffective.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >what is a free radical? </h1>
Every living cell is accompanied by metabolism all the time, and as you read this, your brain is depleting glucose to provide you with energy, a process that produces free radicals.
A free radical is a substance that lacks electrons, and this property makes the free radical very active, and it must snatch the electrons of other substances to maintain its own stability.
That is, free radicals are harmful to cells, destroying molecules such as proteins, fats, and DNA.
Not only that, but because substances that have been robbed of electrons lose electrons, they will become new free radicals and then rob other substances of electrons, and this chain reaction will not stop until it encounters antioxidants.
动图截取自YouTube，It's Okay To Be Smart.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >what is an antioxidant? </h1>
Antioxidants are substances that extinguish free radicals and protect cells from oxidative damage.
Carotenoids, vitamin C, vitamin E and selenium are antioxidants that the body cannot synthesize, and we mainly obtain them through food (especially plants), which are also known as direct antioxidants.
Glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione, coenzyme Q, lipoic acid, melatonin, bilirubin and uric acid are antioxidants that the body can synthesize on its own, and they are also known as endogenous antioxidants.
The various antioxidants mentioned above work synergistically to help extinguish different types of free radicals.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >why is it beneficial to use antioxidants? </h1>
If the number of free radicals exceeds the number of antioxidants, the damage to the cells is exacerbated, a condition known in medicine as oxidative stress, at which point the use of antioxidants is beneficial.
Let's take an example. Hemolytic anemia is a disease caused by premature death of red blood cells, and among the many causes that lead to shortened lifespan of red blood cells, one of the less common causes is vitamin E deficiency, which can protect red blood cells and thus treat hemolytic anemia.
I've also written a previous article about vitamin C and hyperuricemia, which is a classic example of the use of antioxidants to treat oxidative stress disorders.
In other words, supplementation with antioxidants is beneficial when the body is under oxidative stress (the number of free radicals exceeds the limits that a stock of antioxidants or endogenous antioxidants can defend against).
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >why antioxidants can also be harmful? </h1>
Cells in the human body can be divided into two categories, one is healthy cells, and the other is non-working, lifeless, dying, and possibly even cancerous senescent cells.
We only want healthy cells to live better, and senescent cells are better off dying as soon as possible, because their presence not only does not work for tissues and organs, but even releases inflammatory factors that affect healthy cells.
But according to the theory of free radical aging, antioxidants fight aging by protecting cells, which makes people ask: "Will antioxidants even protect aging cells?" ”
This does happen because the immune system produces a lot of free radicals when it scavenging senescent cells, which are used to destroy senescent cells, while antioxidants extinguish free radicals and protect senescent cells that should not be protected.
This is understandable why studies have concluded that supplementation with β-carotene increases the incidence of lung cancer, and vitamin E and selenium supplementation increases the incidence of prostate cancer.
Therefore, I rarely recommend antioxidant supplementation for high-risk groups and cancer patients, and for healthy people, antioxidants should be considered as a treatment (short-term) in response to oxidative stress rather than as a health care regimen (long-term).
It should be noted that studies have not found that vitamin C has adverse effects on cancer, and intravenous vitamin C is often used as an adjunctive treatment for cancer.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > it is beneficial to supplement antioxidants through food</h1>
Instead of using antioxidant supplements, eating more antioxidant-rich foods actually reduces the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, as well as all-cause mortality.
So I think what cells need is not antioxidants (after all, cells can synthesize themselves), but food that doesn't consume antioxidants and doesn't harm themselves.
In other words, the antioxidant index of the food itself is more important than the amount of antioxidants the body obtains.
We should eat fresh food that is free of pollution, highly nutritious and not refined.
These foods can provide you with plenty of carotenoids, vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium, and there's no need to supplement them for anti-aging purposes without treating specific diseases or symptoms.
Finally, for people who like to eat deeply processed foods (and even smoke and drink), instead of supplementing with antioxidants, it is better to get rid of these bad habits, punk health is not a stop loss, and sometimes it may make you more unhealthy.
Related articles (click to view):
1. Is it necessary to eat vitamin E for polycystic?
2. Polycystic ovary syndrome from elevated uric acid levels
3. A new perspective on the treatment of polycystics – vitamin A
4. I eat inositol every day without polycystics, and the reason is...
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The content published on this account is for information sharing only, and the views of the articles cannot be directly used as medical diagnosis or health intervention recommendations. Before taking any preventive or therapeutic measures, please communicate with your healthcare provider.
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