Take a cursory glance at the health news on any given day and you'll start seeing reoccuring buzzwords pop up again and again. Antioxidants, in particular, are a popular choice. In my mind, a typical viewer would likely make note these findings: \Oh, coffee has antioxidants? Sweet! And blueberries, too? That's friggin' awesome!"" The news item proceeds to replicate in their head like a virus. During their next trip to the grocery store, these consumers may be stricken by a need to pick up said products.
They are content in their purchase, knowing full well that these magical antioxidants will imbue them with vigor, long life, and maybe even superpowers.
Antioxidants are an excellent marketing tool, probably because the general public doesn't know their biological role.
Mateo Budinich, a Ph.D student in UW-Madison's Food Science department, helped to elucidate these mysterious molecules' roles. ""Antioxidants,"" he said, ""are small molecules that capture free radicals.""
For all those chem haters, I'll try to make this painless. Free radicals are unstable molecules, formed by a process called oxidation, that are too happy to react indiscriminately with other molecules, which, according to Budinich, can lead to cellular damage. Like tiny, selfless CIA agents, antioxidants will take a free radical ""bullet"" to defend their host organism from the potentially harmful effects of oxidation, getting used up in the process.
""The main driving force [behind antioxidant's popularity in the health community] is the assumption that oxidation causes disease,"" says Budinich. The idea is that if you get plenty of antioxidants in your body, you'll be healthy.
However, Budinich suggests that one should be careful with respect to the various pro-antioxidant studies. Positive antioxidant effects in a test tube are one thing. Getting the same results in the human body is another, entirely more complex endeavor.
For example, since antioxidants can extend the shelf life of many high-fat foods, many snack foods are infused with antioxidants. But, according to Budinich, ""most of the time [these antioxidants] cannot even be absorbed by the body.""
""Some people say colon cancer and things like that can be prevented with an antioxidant-rich diet,"" says Budinich, ""you have to be concerned about the context, though; they're not asking you to eat a peel, they're asking you to eat the whole fruit.""
Which leads me to ask; how much of this stuff do you truly need? On top of bills, midterms, and that brunette goddess in econ, should we students really give antioxidants an equal patch of our precious mental real estate?
Probably not.
Budinich assures me that if someone's diet basically conforms to the food pyramid standard, it's very easy to get the needed amount of antioxidants. If, however, you're like my roommate and subsist solely on half-pizzas and Kool-aid, you might want to add a few new items into your nutritional mix.
My personal favorite is coffee, but tea works as well. Come for the caffeine; stay for the antioxidants. Brightly colored vegetables and fruits also contain plenty of antioxidants, which play a role in protecting their vivid hues from oxidation. Orange juice is packed in vitamin C, probably the most well-known of all the thousands of antioxidants.
Finally, beer and wine both contain readily absorbable antioxidants. So is there is there a connection between UW-Madison's position as Princeton Review's no. 1 party school and the ninth-healthiest student body? No way, man. That'd be a hell of a column, though.
Adam Dylewski is a junior majoring in genetics and is a great source of omega-three fatty acids. Letters? Adylewski@wisc.edu.
