meaning “leaf” — that modulate our
metabolism.
Antioxidants
Oxidative Damage: The Price of Living One
major theme in modern nutrition is the body’s
need to cope with the chemical wear and tear
of life itself. Breathing is essential to human
life because our cells use oxygen to react with
sugars and fats and generate the chemical
energy that keeps the cellular machinery
functioning. Unfortunately, it turns out that
energy generation and other essential
processes involving oxygen generate chemical
by-products called “free radicals,” very
unstable chemicals that react with and damage
our own complex and delicate chemical
machinery. This damage is called oxidative
because it usually originates in reactions
involving oxygen. It can affect different parts
of the cell, and different organs in the body.
For example, oxidative damage to a cell’s