Anti Aging Vitamins

Everyone is searching for the fountain of youth and no where is it more apparent than the health food industry. Everything claims to prevent one feared disease or symptom of aging or another. How can the average consumer know which claims are accurate and which ones are false? The key to wading through all of the claims to find the right solution is to arm yourself with the best knowledge available on the subject. Let's answer the important questions around aging and the impact antioxidant vitamins can have on your future. What are antioxidants? How do they work? Why are they important? Can the fountain of youth really be found in a vitamin pill regimen every day? It all sounds both complicated and simple. How can such a complicated issue like aging be solved by something so simple as a daily vitamin pill?

In order to understand free radicals, we need to go back to chemistry 101 for a minute. If you remember, molecules are made up of atoms. Atoms are made up of electrons circling a nucleus of protons and neutrons. A free radical is an atom that is missing an electron. A free radical is very unstable because it needs the missing electron to complete its structure. It's so important for the free radical to replace the missing electron it will look to get an electron by any means necessary. That's what makes it so dangerous. By stealing the needed electron, the free radical sets up a chain reaction where other molecules, now left without their needed electron, look to find any electron to complete their structure.

In our bodies, our cells are made from molecules, which are made from atoms. When a free radical encounters a cell, it works to steal an electron from one of the atoms in the cell wall. The free radical electron stealing chain reaction then breaks down the atoms of the cell one at a time as they become part of the chain reaction. This is the way in which free radicals cause our bodies to degenerate and age one cell at a time.

Antioxidants are substances that combat free radicals in the body. They are able to turn the free radical into a complete structure by giving the free radical one of their own electrons and stopping the chain reaction. Antioxidants are special substances because they can give up an electron to stop the free radical chain reaction but not become free radicals themselves. Because of this special effect they have on free radicals, antioxidants are essential to slowing the progress of aging and the degenerative effects of free radicals.

The best source of antioxidants is a healthy diet containing at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. The best sources of antioxidants from foods come from foods as widely varied as blueberries, red kidney beans, and russet potatoes. Any vegetable or fruit has at least some antioxidant properties, but most of us don't eat enough of them every day. Even the most conscientious of us don't always get every serving of the healthy food we need every day. Since we can't always get the antioxidants we need from our diet, we need a simpler way to combat the effects of aging.

If we can't obtain all of the antioxidants we need from our diet, can we use vitamin pills to make up for the deficiencies? Scientists have determined that a few very specific vitamins are excellent antioxidants. By adding these vitamins to our diets, we can add antioxidants into our bodies to supplement our healthy eating. These vitamins are E, C, and beta-carotene (vitamin A). Those three simple vitamins, common to every multivitamin on the market, are powerful free radical fighters. At the atomic level, your cells do not care if the antioxidant atom comes from a vitamin pill or a piece of fruit. The only thing necessary to stop the free radical chain reaction is the electron from the antioxidant to finish the free radical structure. By stopping the free radical chain reaction, we can push back the cell degeneration and the aging process a little bit. For those of us looking to fight aging every step of the way, it all starts with that little bit.

Stopping the free radical chain reaction pushes back the potential damage free radicals can do to our cells. By adding antioxidants into our bodies to stop the free radical chain reactions, vitamin pills with antioxidants can help slow the progress of the aging process. It really is that simple. A complicated subatomic aging issue can be addressed by taking a vitamin pill every day.