Skin Problems and Antioxidants

“It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.” Thomas Jefferson

If you're like most people, you want smooth, healthy skin, but maybe you don't want to wade through hundreds of chemically laden products to get it. That's where antioxidants can help. Incorporating the right antioxidants into your diet and skin care routine can have a positive effect on your skin.

Antioxidants are electron donors. They can break the free radical chain reaction by sacrificing their own electrons to feed free radicals, but without turning into free radicals themselves. As long as you have these important micronutrients, your body will be able to resist aging caused by your everyday exposure to pollutants. If you don't have an adequate supply of antioxidants to help squelch free radicals, then you can be at risk of oxidative stress, which leads to accelerated tissue and organ damage.

Antioxidants are nutrients (vitamins and minerals) and enzymes (proteins inside your body) that can help to prevent and repair damage to your body's tissue. Antioxidants do this by slowing or preventing the effect of free radicals, which start oxidation - a process that causes damage from oxygen that can lead to cell dysfunction. If you've seen a peeled apple turn brown, you've seen oxidation in action. As antioxidants block the effects of free radicals, they end up being oxidized. This is why it's important to constantly replenish your supply of antioxidants.