In recent times, there has been this increasing awareness about antioxidants everywhere you turn, in the health sector, cosmetics and food industry etc.

So you might be wondering what it is with this new “buzz” word. Well.. , the truth is that from my experience and I am really going to focus on the cosmetic effects of these anti- oxidants, they are really effective in helping our skins deal with most of the adverse effects of certain harsh conditions we encounter daily.

 

What are antioxidants: Antioxidants are chemicals (both naturally occurring and man-made) that can prevent or slow cell damage. An “antioxidant” is actually not a substance; it’s a behavior. Any compound that can donate electrons and counteract free radicals has antioxidant properties. Another definition has it as a substance that removes potentially damaging oxidizing agents in a living organism.

 

In simple terms, there are certain reactions that either take place on the skin or inside the body that has the ability to trigger or set off a series of chain reactions either in or on the skin, and this chain reactions once started will continue to perpetuate itself until it is stopped. Most times having sufficient substances in or on the skin where these “destructive reactions” are taking place which have antioxidant properties will help to control and in most cases combat the rate at which these reactions are ravaging the skin.

 

How anti-oxidants work:

free radicals

 

Exposure to oxygen causes an other wise healthy atom to loose its electron thereby becoming a free radical. These free radicals are always on the hunt looking for an electron that will stabilise them, by taking electrons from other cells hence destabilizing them,and on and on and on it goes. So what an anti-oxidant does is to donate an electron to the freeradical to destabilise it and end the ongoing chain reaction.

 

 

antioxidants

What happens to the antioxidants when they donate the missing electron? Do they then become free radicals themselves?

Well… antioxidants are able to neutralise free radicals without being overly reactive themselves.

That is what really makes antioxidants really special and truly beneficial to health and wellbeing.

 

Join me tomorrow as I talk about some natural antioxidants used in skincare.

 

 

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