Antioxidants are substances that protect against oxidative cell damage.

Oxidation is a natural process of the body but it also creates harmful substances called free radicals - the molecules that cause cell damage.

Most molecules have paired electrons but free radicals are volatile because they have an odd electron that is not paired. As they try to find a way to pair up the electron they attack compounds in the body leading to cell damage. A free radical can either grab an electron from another molecule or give the odd electron to another molecule, this action then causes that molecule to become a free radical and a chain begins.

Antioxidants can work in two different ways:

• They break the chain by stabilizing the free radical
• They prevent the chain before it begins.