What are oxidants and antioxidants?
Oxidants are a class of chemicals of the oxidizing ability. The antonym of oxidant is reductant. Oxidant and reductant are 2 basic concepts in chemistry – redox chemistry, and have their relative meanings.
Antioxidant is more a biological term, not a basic term in fundamental chemistry. It is related to damages of free radicals to the living system. There is a good website about the strict definitions of antioxidant and free radicals at http://www.opc-1-2-3.com. The majority of other websites are wrong about these 2 terms.
Moment by moment throughout the cells of our bodies, free radicals (i.e., oxidants or radical oxygen species) are continuously being generated by normal metabolism. Exposure to toxins in the environment, or irradiation, increases free radical production. Free radicals are unstable atoms having potential to damage cells and alter genes if not quickly neutralized. Our bodies defend against oxidation through enzymes called dismutases, catalases, reductases and peroxidases. Also, our diet provides a host of chemicals serving antioxidant roles. These chemicals include: vitamins A, C and E; minerals like selenium, manganese and zinc; and pigments from the plant foods we eat. In black raspberries, phenolic pigments like ellagic and ferulic acids are the major antioxidant source. What are other pigments present in black raspberries? The rich color of black raspberries comes from numerous chemicals of the phenolic super-family that is a class of several thousands of members serving plants as pi
