Sheer Balance

I continue to hear about free radicals and antioxidants. What are they? Why should I care?
Hilary – San Francisco

Free radicals are unstable molecules formed naturally and unnaturally from pollution, the environment and other factors.  Free radicals are always on the search for stable molecules that they can damage in order for them to fulfill their need to become a complete molecule.  Their search leads them to our cells that they attack in order to become stable.  These attacks create chain reactions of damage within our bodies leading to harsher health conditions.

So what can you do to protect yourself?  Simply put, antioxidants are free radical scavengers.  Antioxidants protect our cells from these free radicals, providing a defense mechanism that terminates them before they attack us.  Antioxidants can be found in many places, but they are most potent in your foods and at times, within the right formulation of nutritional supplements.