What Impact Do Free Radicals and Antioxidants Have On Aging?
EVERTHING! Your understanding of free radicals and antioxidants is critically important. Although there are several causes for aging, most experts would say that the interaction between these two factors has the greatest impact on how you age. Free Radical Theory of Aging In 1954, while at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Denham Harman formulated what is now the most widely accepted theory on aging. Over the last 50+ years, Dr. Harman and a host of other scientist have developed a body of work that clearly points to free radical damage at the cellular level as the leading cause of aging. Additionally, their work clearly shows the benefits of antioxidants on reducing this damage. In Dr. Harman’s own words, “. . . free radical reactions are involved in aging. There are two major aspects to it. One, is that you can decrease the rate of free radical reaction by decreasing the rate of initiation of the chemical reaction; and/or two, you can slow the decrease in the propagation
