Take Another Look at Antioxidants
Leonard W Heflich*
Innovation for Success, LLC, USA
*Corresponding Author: Leonard W Heflich, Innovation for Success, USA.
Received:
January 27, 2022; Published: February 11, 2022
Antioxidants are molecules that are capable of donating an electron or accepting a proton from an unstable free radical molecule. Free radicals have an extra unpaired electron, making them very unstable, highly reactive and therefore dangerous. Early forms of life had to develop a mechanism for neutralizing free radicals in order to avoid the damage they cause. Studies of early bacteria have discovered the presence of antioxidants at least 2.5 billion years ago. Exposure to atmospheric oxygen and sunlight would not be possible without antioxidants to neutralize the free radicals produced. Anerobic bacteria never learned the trick and even today must hide underground or deep in the ocean where sunlight and oxygen cannot reach.
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