What do antioxidants actually do for your health/body?
405431
They react with oxidant molecules and free radicals that are present inside your body. Highly oxidant molecules otherwise react with proteins and cellular components, that can damage cells.\n\nSo antioxidants help to protect your cells.
107346
Oxygen radicals (free oxygen) that are present in the body because of various factors is harmful and has been believed to cause different illnesses including cancer...To counter its harmful effects or to attract such radicals out of the body, food (fruits and vegetables, etc.) containing antioxidants are encouraged to be taken.
617426
Antioxidants are essential to maintaining a healthy body.  I don't think you would actually know that you are low in antioxidants itself but if you were low in certain vitamins I'm sure your body will let you know, different signs for different vitamins.  I hope that helps?  Most people aren't concerned about low levels of antioxidants when their body is lacking vitamins.  I think you're more concerned about what vitamins youre body might be lacking.
404293
There is no such thing as a "detoxification".  These are all fraudulant.\n\nYour body naturally eliminates toxins through various means.  The idea here is to limit/eliminate most toxins and allow your body to do its job and not to do things that interfere with this process.  For example, drinking alcohol, even a little bit, regularly, will dramatically decrease your liver function, preventing it from detoxifying most things in your body.  In extreme cases, all those toxins running around in your body will result in extreme cluster headaches....one of the common forms of headaches people experience.  Stop drinking and the problem disappears...duh.\n\nEat a healthy diet, free of processed foods, and additives like MSG and nutrasweet, and drink only water.  That is the ONLY way to detoxify your body.\n\nAlso, a good source of anti-oxidants like grape seed extract will prevent free radicals from mucking around your body and causing disease.\n\nFor example.  Atherosclerosis is caused when cholesterol in your body is oxidized by free radicals, which then adheres to your artery wall, where it calcifies.  Antioxidants prevent this.  If you interupt the process long enough, your body has a mechansim (not well understood) for removing those plaques.\n\nThe practical application of this knowledge is you can prevent atherosclerosis (and a whole bunch of other nasty diseases) by "detoxifying" your body of free radicals with anti-oxidants....provided you arn't stuffing garbage into your body 24/7.\n\nIn fact, the new classification of drugs for reversing atherosclerosis are powerful anti-oxidants.  They were developed to prevent restenosis after angioplasty but have been found to reverse athersclerosis all by themselves.  How do they work?  By interupting the process that causes atherosclerosis (oxidation of cholesterol) and restensosis after angioplasty, allowing your body to naturally heal the atherosclerosis on its own.\n\nThis is similar to how drugs like Fosamax work for oseoporosis.  You have cells that break down bone and cells that build up bone.  Osteoporosis happens when the net break down is greater than the net build up.  Fosamax slows down the cells that break down bone allowing the cells that build up bone to "catch up".  Over a few years time, this cures the condition.\n\nMOST long term, chronic disease follows this model.  If you interupt the ongoing disease process, your body "catches up"\n\nSame thing with toxins.
531235
I have heard that it does. But you might want to check out these websites first.\nhttp://www.hairboutique.com/tips/tip214.htm\nhttp://www.man-health-magazine-online.com/hair-growth-vitamins.html\n\n\nVitamin E is a powerful anti-oxidant that helps increase circulation. Vitamin E increases oxygen uptake, which improves circulation to the scalp. It improves overall health. Since hair health is tied to the immune system, vitamin E is believed to stimulate hair growth by enhancing the immune function. \nhttp://www.treasuredlocks.com/hair-growth-vitamin-black-men.html
44018
There can be too much of a good thing.  You should not require any additional supplements other than your daily vitamin - especially if you have a relatively healthy diet. Extra vitamin C/E pills can acually harm you if you take too much.  \n\nYou are better off to concentrate on a healthy diet, and maintain a healthy body weight.  This will ensure you are not consuming too many calories.  Try avoiding deep fried foods or refined carbohydrates such as found in candy, deserts, and especially soft drinks.  Keep bread, rice and pasta to small portions as they contain significant amounts of sugar.\n\nSome foods may promote healthy skin if they contain antioxidants and Omega Fatty Acids.  Antioxidants can prevent inflammation, contribute to proper growth of collagen which supports the skin, and prevent accelerated aging thought to occur when antioxidant levels in the body are low.\n\nFruit is an excellent source of antioxidants in the form of polyphenols and vitamin C, which can prevent inflammation and prevent a condition known as oxidative stress.  Berries have the highest antioxidant to sugar ratio and blueberries are top of the list.  This is important because a high sugar content can "cancel out" the effects of the antioxidants. For example orange juice is very high in vitamin C (an antioxidant) and very high in sugar.  So for antioxidants you are better off with berries than you are with sweeter fruits like oranges and  pineapples.  You can still drink OJ or grapfruit juice but limit to a small "shot glass".  Apples are also a good fruit - not too sweet - and a good source of fiber.\n\nOmega fatty acids are good for your skin because they are considered to have anti-inflammatory properties. Salmon is a good source of OFAs, however there are concerns over mercury contamination -especially in salmon grown in fish farms.  So you might want to limit salmon to less than 4 times per month and supplement with walnuts which are another great source of OFAs.\n\nMany people believe that water is good for your skin and overall health, however  you do not need to drink an excessive amount.  In a 2002 American Journal of Physiology review, Heinz Valtin concludes that the average person drinks enough water by drinking only when they are thirsty.  So drink your water but there is no need to guzzle 2 Liters of water per day thats for sure.
231558
Antioxidants in green and black tea are supposed to help to support your immune system. Also, if you drink a full glass of tea 1/2 hour before a meal, you will feel fuller and you will mot eat as much, thus helping you loose weight.
865801
The research community is currently answering that.  They suspect that antioxidants may help, and there is some hopeful evidence of that, but nothing concrete yet.  There are a couple of studies that show that Coenzyme Q10 (aka CoQ10) helps people living with Parkinson's disease.  The most well-known study appeared in the Archives of Neurology in 2002.  It was compelling enough to get the National Institues of Health to fund research that is still going on about CoQ10.  \n\nThe current dose that people are speculating is beneficial is 1200 mgs per day - a pretty large dose.  It can also get a little pricey, because it is popular right now thanks to its benefits to the heart too.\n\nExercise also appears to have some very positive effects, if you call that natural.  \n\nOther than that, there are not a lot of other good natural options - that we know about yet.  I hope that we learn something miraculous soon.
481030
Forget the supplements. Drink authentic green tea for the best results.  Curbs appetite, antioxident and many other benefits!
1151995
Green tea can be very good for you.  It doesn't contain caffiene, and it counts towards your daily fluid intake (important so that you don't become too dehydrated).\n\nGreen tea also contains anti-oxidants, which can be beneficial to the body.  Scientists still aren't sure how well the body absorbs these anti-oxidants, but it's still important to get a decent amount of them in your diet (you can also get them from fresh fruit and vegetables).
187394
"Antioxidants are important, naturally occurring nutrients that help maintain health by slowing the destructive aging process of cellular molecules. \nAntioxidants can also be important in improving immune responses and vaccine recognition in dogs and cats. This may be especially critical for young animals that are being vaccinated while their immune system is still developing. \nAntioxidants can reverse decreases in immune-cell function for senior dogs and cats. A blend of several antioxidants in moderate amounts may be more effective than high levels of one antioxidant."\n\nMostly found in Green Tea, fruits, and vegetables.
123410
Is Chocolate Healthy for You?\nYes, If It's Dark\n\n\nChuao Cocoa\nA chocolate a day keeps the doctor away. Surely such a statement has skeptics furrowing their brows. But what if we put it this way? A flavanoid a day may prevent heart disease.\n\nA natural, plant-based substance, flavanoids are found in cocoa and believed to affect nitric oxide activity in the body—in laymen’s terms: the less cells oxidize, the better for your health. In fact, the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory provides a list of flavanoid-rich foods—including chocolate—because scientific studies support their antioxidant effects, which include inhibiting blood platelets from sticking together, clogging arteries and causing heart attacks.
1069028
Vitamin E, one of the antioxidants, can be taken regularly as part of a daily vitamin and mineral supplement or spread as in an ointment on sunburn. Vitamin C is another antioxidant that will help prevent severe damage from sunburn and shorten its effects. Selenium is a mineral that will help fight sunburn.
284881
Fruits and vegetables have several strengths.  They have a lot of roughage, which your body actually can't digest, so it goes right through your system.  This keeps everything moving and functioning like it should, and keeps you "regular."  They are also a good source of many vitamins and minerals.
1036053
It's me  :)  Can't resist this one  lol\n\nGoji is a very powerful antioxidant rich in flavenoids and phytonutrients which rapidly change your blood from acidity to alkalinity.\nIt starts with the small intestine, when it hits your bloodstream it literally starts to kill the free radicals and Inflammation.\nInflammation in the body is deadly, it leads to heart disease, athsma and auto-immune dysfunction.\nConsume as many raw fruits and vegetables as you can, as they will help your blood return to an alkaline state and help to remove free radicals which is what leads to disorders such as peyronies.\nGoji offers a host of unique benefits that should be of great interest to anyone fighting depression.  As an adaptogen, it helps the body to adapt to and cope with stress and provides energy reserves to help you handle just about any difficulty.  It also fights fatigue and boosts stamina, while improving sleep quality.
316014
Antioxidants serve to quench byproducts of cellular activity called 'radicals'.  During the normal process of metabolism products like alcohols, sugars, proteins etc., are broken down molecular to produce heat.  Some of these products have beneficial byproducts, some have undesirable by-products.  Antioxidants, which are often found in foods and vitamin products, act specifically to target some of these chemically undesirable byproducts and inhibit their ability to cause damage to the organism.  An example of one type of damage:  skin damage from cigarette smoking.  The connective tissue [collagen] reacting to chemical radicals in smoke will "cross-link" with other collagen proteins.  The result is a tightening of the connective tissue making it less flexible.  An outward presentation of this effect is that of wrinkles on the skin.\n\nThe web page below gives you a synopsis in several sentences.
329242
Depends on the antioxidant.  There's herbal antioxidants, vitamin antioxidants and others.  You would have to be more specific on exactly which you are referring to, including age as well.