What are antioxidants short answer?
Daniel Rodriguez
Published Feb 24, 2026
What are antioxidants short answer?
Antioxidants are molecules in your body which fight free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that can cause damage if the body has too high levels of them. Antioxidants are molecules that neutralize free radicals, molecules that are unstable and can damage the cells.
What are the three most important antioxidants?
Three of the major antioxidant vitamins are beta-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E. You’ll find them in colorful fruits and vegetables, especially those with purple, blue, red, orange, and yellow hues.
What is the most important antioxidant?
Glutathione is the most powerful and important among the antioxidants our body produces. It’s a combination of three amino acids; it tackles ageing through the intestines and circulatory system. It has strong anti-ageing properties, it protects cells, tissues and organs of the body and it keeps them young.
Who discovered antioxidants?
Henry Albright Mattill was born in Glasgow, Missouri, in 1883 (2). He received his A.B.
What is the function of antioxidants?
Antioxidants are substances that may protect your cells against free radicals, which may play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases. Free radicals are molecules produced when your body breaks down food or when you’re exposed to tobacco smoke or radiation.
Why do we need antioxidants?
What are benefits of antioxidants?
Antioxidants are compounds produced in your body and found in foods. They help defend your cells from damage caused by potentially harmful molecules known as free radicals. When free radicals accumulate, they may cause a state known as oxidative stress.
How do antioxidants work?
Antioxidants neutralize free radicals by giving up some of their own electrons. In making this sacrifice, they act as a natural “off” switch for the free radicals. This helps break a chain reaction that can affect other molecules in the cell and other cells in the body.
What is the origin of antioxidants?
Natural Sources of Antioxidants Most of the natural antioxidants are derived from plant materials, such as fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices [62,63,64]. These are particularly rich in phenolic compounds, vitamins and carotenoids [16,65,66].
Who invented vitamin K?
Henrik Dam
Vitamin K was discovered in 1929. The Danish scientist Henrik Dam and colleagues were investigating the role of dietary cholesterol by feeding chickens a diet without fat. After several weeks the animals started to suffer from frequent bleedings.
What is called antioxidant?
Introduction. Antioxidants are man-made or natural substances that may prevent or delay some types of cell damage. Diets high in vegetables and fruits, which are good sources of antioxidants, have been found to be healthy; however, research has not shown antioxidant supplements to be beneficial in preventing diseases.
What are antioxidants and how do they work?
Antioxidants are molecules in your body which fight free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that can cause damage if the body has too high levels of them. Antioxidants are molecules that neutralize free radicals, molecules that are unstable and can damage the cells. Do antioxidants detox your body? Antioxidants, and benefits from them.
What are the antioxidants that act as radical scavengers?
Antioxidants that act as radical scavengers. Examples of antioxidants which scavenge free radicals are phenolic compounds, ligands, flavonoids and phenolic acids. Antioxidants that react with transition metals to form complexes and thus avoid the catalytic effect of the metals in the oxidation process.
What are antioxidant herbal medicines?
Antioxidant herbal medicines protect against oxidation and free radical damage. The term ‘antioxidant’ is derived from the Greek anti, meaning ‘against’, and the English oxidant, meaning ‘ a substance that can cause oxidation or is oxidising in action.
What are antioxidants in meat products?
Antioxidants are substances that at low concentrations retard the oxidation of easily oxidizable bio-molecules, such as lipids and proteins in meat products, thus improving shelf life of products by protecting them against deterioration caused by oxidation. According to their mechanism, Antioxidants that act as radical scavengers.