Natural antioxidant productsTowards a new era?

摘要

The galaxy of the healthcare world in the past few decades was somehow permeated with a paradigm based on the negative role of the overproduction of tissue free radicals, so-called oxidative stress and on the ability to reduce it by using antioxidantproducts capable of directly or indirectly eliminating these highly reactive chemical species.The great success of this paradigm is largely based on a huge amount of experimental data (mostly from in vitro studies) and on epidemiological evidence suggesting a correlation between lower risk of chronic degenerative diseases and higher intake of antioxidants, particularly dietary antioxidants [1]. Thus, the entire scientific community, according to this paradigm, defined its most significant aspects. Let's start with the definition of the term "oxidative stress", given by Helmut Sies in 1985: he defined oxidative stress as "a serious imbalance between the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant protection in favour of the former" [2]. This imbalance possibly causes damage to the main cellular constituent molecules such as proteins, DNA, RNA, carbohydrates and lipids, resulting in functional damage. Moreover, in agreement with Halliwell, an antioxidant is therefore defined as a molecule able to delay, prevent or remove the oxidative damage to cellular components, thus preserving their functional integrity [3].