The bad thing about this situation is that just about everything contributes to this oxidization process so our body’s are pretty much constantly producing more free radicals. Air pollution, cigarette smoke (yours or someone else’s), alcohol, stress, and even sun exposure all contribute to the process.
Thankfully, nature herself has provided a countermeasure for all the damage caused by free radicals – antioxidants. These handy little nutrient compounds come along and donate a spare electron to the unstable molecule, turning it stable again.
The most amazing thing about antioxidants is that there are so very many of them and more are being discovered every day. Your body actually produces some antioxidants on its own while the rest need to be consumed through the food we eat. Some of the everyday vitamins and minerals that we’ve long known are necessary for optimal health turned out to have antioxidant properties like vitamin C and zinc.
More, however, have been discovered as scientists discover and isolate substances in nutritional compounds. Things like flavonoids, lutein and resveratrol are all recent discoveries in antioxidant research.