Antioxidants: Can they save you or kill you quicker?

by Julia Belluz 

The Statement: Antioxidants for “building strong bones and teeth” and  “protection and healing while improving memory function.”— Cafeteria signage, 07/28/2011

Like many of you, dear readers, on my way to lunch every day I am met with a barrage of well-intentioned signs in my workplace cafeteria that extol the benefits of antioxidants. According to these colourful posters, antioxidants do everything from build strong bones and teeth to protect and heal the body (whatever that means) while also improving memory function.
These signs ring bells: naturally, Science-ish is skeptical of any life-preserving miracle cures. So we asked: what are antioxidants and what do they really do for the body?
First, we must begin with free radicals, which are molecules that have at least one unpaired electron and therefore can be unstable and highly reactive. The theory goes oxidation (or oxygen metabolism), which is a natural process needed to sustain life, also causes the formation of free radicals, and the free radicals can age and damage your cells, leading to diseases such as cancer.
That’s where antioxidants come in. Found in many foods—from fruits and vegetables to wine, chocolate, and tea—antioxidants are thought to interact with the free radicals, stabilize them, and prevent some of the damage they would otherwise cause. In other words, they protect the body’s cells from the sometimes harmful effects of those wild free radicals.
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