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Article: Winning against free radicals: antioxidants have your back--and your brain and your heart and your liver.
- Article from:
- Men's Fitness
- Article date:
- October 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Weider Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A war is being waged inside your body, and only good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle can bring the reinforcements.
The bad guys are called free radicals--highly reactive chemicals that damage tissues and DNA by pilfering electrons in a relentless quest to enhance their own stability. The good guys, referred to as antioxidants, are chemical structures that either prevent or halt interior damage, often by "donating" electrons to free radicals.
Free radicals are most commonly produced as a by-product of your body's processing of plain old oxygen. Unless you can find a way to stop breathing (which we don't advise), a certain amount of "oxidative stress" ...