Better Aging through Chemistry: A Daily Anti-aging Regimen.

The price we pay for living is dying. That is, to stay alive, our body must burn oxygen, and that process inevitably yields toxic metabolites called free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive because the outer shell of electrons is incomplete. Atoms are attracted to other atoms with incomplete electron shells. That is, they share electrons to form a chemical bond. An atom that has a full outer shell tends not to enter into chemical reactions. The damage comes from the free radical stripping electrons off of target atoms and converting them into a chain-reaction production of free radicals. This changes the target atoms so that their normal function is disabled. Such damage occurs in all sorts of molecules, including the vital molecules RNA and DNA. So how do anti-oxidant chemicals help? They neutralize radicals by donating electrons to complete the outer shells of free radicals without becoming free radicals themselves. Think of anti-oxidants as scavengers that go around scooping...