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A9. Antioxidants and Disease

  • Page ID
    132911
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    If oxidative damage by dioxygen reduction products can cause disease, maybe antioxidant vitamins (E, C, A), which can form reasonably stable free radical, can protect the body from their effects.

    Figure: antioxidant vitamins (E, C, A)

    antioxidants.gif

    It has been shown that these vitamins can help protect white blood cells from DNA damage arising from hydroxy free radicals. Vitamin E, a fat-soluble vitamin carried in circulating lipoproteins, can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, presumably by preventing oxidation of lipids and proteins in lipoproteins. Vitamin E and C, along with a common food additive, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) can form stable free radicals (formed possibly by abstraction of a hydrogen atom by hydroxyl free radicals) since the lone electron is stabilized by resonance and the the O-centered resonant form is sterically restricted from intermolecular interactions which could propagate the free radical chain reactions.

    TBA: Recent literature showing link to antioxidants and cancer

    iconexternal_link.gifHuman mitochondrial protein database from the NIST


    This page titled A9. Antioxidants and Disease is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Henry Jakubowski.

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