Our body is under constant attack from the so-called “oxidative stress” we continue hearing about in the media and from health specialists. The “free radicals” that are generated open up to conditions more favourable to the onset of diseases: cancer, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and many other pathological states can be encouraged, like those related to inflammatory states. Furthermore, the connection between free radicals and aging – defined as a “gradual accumulation of damage caused by free radicals” – has been well recognised, and this is a major fundamental point to be addressed in “anti-aging” medicine. Unfortunately the substances that generate free radicals can be found in the food we eat, in the drugs we take, in the air we breathe and in the water we drink, given that these factors we constantly come into contact with include products that are contaminated by various chemicals, tobacco smoke, pesticides and air pollutants or alcohol consumption. Let us not forget, however, that free radicals are also natural by-products of the body’s chemical processes, such as the metabolism itself. The body’s ability to transform air and food into chemical energy depends on a chain reaction of free radicals. Free radicals are also produced during the processes of defence activated by our immune system to eliminate invading microorganisms. Oxidative stress occurs when there are too many free radicals and too much cellular damage in the body. According to a study published in the journal Pharmacognosy Review, oxidative stress is also associated with the damage of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. In recent decades, numerous studies have shown that oxidative stress plays a role in the development of many conditions including macular degeneration, cardiovascular diseases, some types of cancer, emphysema, alcoholism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ulcers and all inflammatory diseases, such as lupus and arthritis. Free radicals that increase in the body are also associated with aging, encouraged by the accumulation of free radicals over time. For this reason, scientific evidence on the importance of the protection offered by antioxidants – which are molecules present inside the cells that block free radicals, that is, prevent free radicals from take electrons and causing their damage – is increasingly evident. Antioxidants are completely natural substances (the best known are beta-carotene and other carotenoids, lutein, resveratrol, the famous vitamins C and E, lycopene and other phytonutrients contained in Maqui and Goji “super berries”) whose job is
