Readers note: Ok, secret time. I was halfway through with a blog post about collagen (not supplements, just collagen in general) and how amaze-balls it is.
One of the key functions of collagen is its ability to act as an antioxidant. This led to articles about antioxidants and free radicals. One rabbit hole led to another (just call me Alice), and I ended up with 17 tabs open about freaking antioxidants. So rather than giving you a white paper on cellular function, collagen, and anti-aging, I’m breaking them down into a few separate posts!
Me: 34 years old My Daughter: 9 months old. She’s my mini me but you can clearly see the role of aging, of a life lived, on my face compared to hers. Fine lines, acne scars, discoloration are all evidence of the losing battle between antioxidants and free radicals.
“If we’re lucky, we’ll all grow old.” – unknown
As we age, there are obvious and not-so-obvious changes that occur. Hormones shift, joints ache, and skin starts to become less vibrant and plump. Your risk for most diseases increases as you age – heart disease, diabetes, cancer.
The million-dollar question is “why?”
The ten-million-dollar question is “how do you stop it?”
This article isn’t meant to solve all your aging woes but is meant to provide some info and tools to help you encourage healthy function and longevity on a cellular level.
You’ve probably heard or seen the terms antioxidant, free radical, and maybe even oxidative stress. But what do these terms mean and more importantly – why do they matter?
What are free radicals and why do we hate them?
You may think free radicals are bad things (especially if you’ve ever seen or read a beauty product advertisement). But free radicals are just naturally occurring molecules that are created when your cells use oxygen.
Simply put, free radicals are the by-product of your cells using oxygen.
Free radicals don’t always come from within – there are external free radicals found in the environment. Examples of free radicals in the wild include:
Pesticides and certain cleaners
Cigarette smoke
Radiation – from the sun and medical devices
Air pollution
Radon exposure
Alcohol (yup)
Certain scenarios or conditions can also promote excess free radical formation. Some of these include:
High blood sugar levels
Infections
Prolonged or intense exercise
Antioxidant deficiency
As you can see, it’s hard to fully avoid external free radicals, but that’s not the point. Telling you to hide from the sun, don’t work out, and never get an infection is as realistic as telling your cells to not use oxygen.
Like everything in life, it’s all about balance. Once free radicals are created, your body uses antioxidants to remove them. Wanna know what else antioxidants are called? Free radical scavengers. Isn’t that the coolest name ever?
Antioxidants prevent and repair any damage caused by these free radical rebels to keep your cells and body healthy. If there are more free radicals running around than there are antioxidants to keep them in line, oxidative stress can occur.
Oxidative stress: the real troublemaker.
Oxidative stress happens when there is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants. When oxidative stress is around, it bullies and beats up your cells and can cause damage.
Damage on a cellular level carries all kinds of consequences. Damage from oxidative stress can lead to a variety of diseases including heart disease, diabetes, eye diseases like cataracts, and cancer.
Oxidative stress is thought to play a crucial role in aging as well. When skin cells become damaged or altered, common signs of aging can appear. Oxidative stress also makes it more difficult for your skin to repair from damage caused by oxidative stress.
One example is signs of sun damage. If you’ve spent a life worshiping the sun, your body eventually can’t keep up and this is when discoloration, uneven skin texture, and skin cancers can occur. Another is the natural loss of moisture in our skin as we age. Typically, collagen and antioxidant actions would replenish your dehydrated skin and plump it right up.
This is why you still looked refreshed, glowing, and rejuvenated after a night of drinking Everclear out of a Rubbermaid cooler in your 20s.
But eventually, the lack of hydration wins, and fine lines and sunken skin can set it. This is why two glasses of Merlot while you watch Bridgerton make you look like you haven’t slept in 5 days when you’re in your 30s.
Now take these examples for the skin, and apply them to every organ, tissue, and muscle in your body. An imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants causes stress in these areas, making it more difficult for cells to repair and protect themselves.
Since antioxidants scavenge and regulate free radicals and when they do this, oxidative stress is reduced, where can you find antioxidants?
I thought you’d never ask.
Where to find antioxidants.
Your body creates a few antioxidants on its own like alpha lipoic acid and glutathione. Collagen isn’t technically considered an antioxidant, but it can act like one to support free radical control.
Antioxidants are found in food – mostly food made from plants (fruits and veggies). Some pack a bigger punch than others based on the phytonutrients (plant-based compounds) in them. When shopping around to find antioxidant-rich foods, it all comes down to these nutrient compounds.
A good rule of thumb is to eat the rainbow. Most fruits and vegetables that are rich in color are also rich in antioxidants. Carrots, tomatoes, peaches, and sweet potatoes all get their bright orange and red colors from carotenoids like carotene and lycopene. Carotenoids are a huge class of antioxidant-containing plants.
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and gives things like lemons, bananas, and pineapple their yellow hue.
Lutein is another antioxidant and its name is the Latin word for yellow but foods with high levels of lutein are usually bright green (don’t ask me why). Kale, spinach, peas, and lettuce all have significant amounts of lutein.
I know black and brown aren’t in the rainbow, but we can’t forget the power couple coffee and dark chocolate. Both of these guys are high in antioxidants like polyphenols which have been shown to help reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.
If you’re colorblind or have never seen a rainbow, here are some examples of antioxidant-rich foods:
Basically any berry
Cherries
Citrus fruit like lemons and oranges
Prunes
Dark leafy greens like kale and collards
Carrots
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Olives
In addition to fresh fruits and veggies, fish, nuts, onions, garlic, and cinnamon all contain antioxidants. Green tea and turmeric also have a high amount of these free-radical fighting fellows.
You can increase your collagen (and increase antioxidant activity) by eating foods rich in collagen or taking a high-quality supplement. Things like bone broth, bone marrow, fish skin, and the gristly bits of meat have the highest collagen content.
Non-dietary ways to increase antioxidant levels.
If you’re turning blue from blueberries or can’t stomach any more golden turmeric tea – don’t fret. There are ways to increase antioxidant activity and reduce oxidative stress that don’t include a trendy acai berry bowl every day.
Regular physical activity can boost natural antioxidants. “But wait – you said earlier strenuous exercise causes free radical formation?” This is true, but moderate exercise has been linked to boosting antioxidant activity. Strenuous exercise leads to tissue damage (as you build big ol’ musckles) which isn’t a bad thing – but it’s good to be aware that constant tissue and muscle damage and breakdown take a toll on your body.
Don’t smoke and avoid exposure to secondhand smoke. The same goes for exposure to cleaning chemicals and pesticides. If you’re going to use nuclear level cleaning chemicals, wear gloves and open a window to increase ventilation. Try and buy organic foods to reduce pesticide exposure if possible and make sure you scrub your fruits and veggies when you get home from the store.
Wearing sunscreen limits oxidative stress effects from ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Some indoor lights also emit UV light so using a daily moisturizer with SPF can be helpful (in addition to heavy-duty sunscreen at the beach).
If you’re looking for a deeper reset to boost anti-oxidant activity, check out this guide by my friends at ivee!
Take caution with antioxidant supplements.
Naturally, there are a million different supplements on the market containing antioxidants. Supplementing with a high-quality antioxidant product can be helpful (especially if you don’t get enough fruits and veggies in your diet or have allergies), but make sure you find a balance.
Taking something that says MEGA, ULTRA, INTENSE, INSANO amounts of antioxidants is probably not the best thing for you. Just like there can be too many free radicals in your body, there can also be too many antioxidants.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health warns against taking high-doses of antioxidants as there can be harmful reactions. Studies have shown high doses of certain antioxidants can actually increase a person’s risk for certain cancers or increase a person’s risk for bleeding.
And like any supplement or medication – there is a risk for interaction. Just because something came from a plant, doesn’t mean it can’t cause harm (ever heard of poison ivy or hemlock?).
If you take prescription medications and want to add an antioxidant supplement, talk to your healthcare provider. They can check if there are any interactions known between the two as well as suggest alternatives if needed.
A couple more thoughts about antioxidant supplements:
The vast majority of trials done with supplements have not found them to be extremely useful – researchers note this could be due to the additional health effects found when patients eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables
There is no evidence of harm or ability to over-consume dietary sources of antioxidants
In the end, free radicals and antioxidants are both parts of the continuous process our body is in to find balance, grow, and restore function. As we age, this process becomes more complex and increasing antioxidants in your diet can help reduce some of the effects of oxidative stress. And finding natural sources of antioxidants in foods, drinks, and establishing healthy habits is most effective.
tl;dr:
Free radicals are created when your cells use oxygen
Antioxidants are free radical scavengers and prevent free radical excess
Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants
Oxidative stress is linked to skin aging and several diseases
Antioxidants are made in the body but most people get them from their diet
Fresh fruits and vegetables contain different antioxidants to help reduce oxidative stress
Take caution when using antioxidant supplements
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