First, let's demystify all the jargon around this fountain of youth. What is an antioxidant? What does it have to do with youthfulness? Basically the word means a substance which is "against oxidation." Oxidation is what occurs when steel rusts, or oil becomes rancid, or human cells degrade. (In biochemical terms, oxidation means loss of an electron.) Cellular respiration, or metabolism, the way energy is produced in our bodies, involves many oxidative reactions and is an event which renders electrically charged particles called free radicals. These unstable molecules are usually scavenged and transformed by other biologically active molecules called free radical scavengers. If the body's innate free radical scavengers cannot keep up with a higher rate of oxidative damage, rapid aging occurs, cells become damaged, and can even mutate into abnormal cells. Antioxidant vitamins and minerals help to preserve cellular functioning and aid the body in its constant battle against oxidation.

So let's explore the antioxidants. An easy mnemonic to learn the basic nutrient antioxidants is "ACES." Vitamins A, C, E, and the mineral Selenium. It is vitally important to incorporate these nutrients into your diet to maintain high level wellness and youthfulness.

(A) Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin that is essential for healthy skin, teeth, bones, hair, eyes, soft tissues, the lining of many organs such as the lungs, bladder, etc., and a functioning immune system. Inadequate levels of vitamin A can result in rough dry skin and/or other skin problems such as acne and blemishes, itching, burning eyes, sties in the eyes, allergies, sinus trouble, susceptibility to colds and infections, appetite loss, dry hair, fatigue, insomnia, and night blindness (vitamin A is necessary for visual purple production, which facilitates night vision). Severe deficiency of vitamin A can result in total blindness, and skin diseases such as hyperkeratosis (bumpy goose flesh-like skin) and ichthyosis (fish skin).
Some lifestyle habits or conditions which may require supplementation with vitamin A include alcohol and coffee consumption, tobacco and sugar usage, excessive laxative use, excessive iron intake, liver disease, chronic infections, and diabetes. Even things such as pollution, stress, and prolonged exposure to cold weather can deplete us of vitamin A.
Sources of vitamins A are carrots, and all green and yellow fruits and vegetables, fish and fish liver oil, alfalfa, eggs, cheese, kale, liver, most milk products and spirulina. You can safely take up to 50,000 IU of vitamin A per day. Smokers or those with a chronic illness may need even more to maintain a healthy immune system. You would need to eat five large carrots, four cups of spinach, or a half pound of liver every day to get this dosage. But a reasonable dose to prevent any deficiency disease would be approximately 5,000 IU. So if you don’t think you are getting this minimum amount in your diet, it would be wise to supplement with either Beta-carotene, mixed carotenoids, both converted by the body into vitamin A, or straight vitamin A every day to ensure an adequate supply.
Because vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin, it is stored in the body, therefore there is a potential for toxicity. Toxicity symptoms could occur with prolonged high doses of vitamin A (usually not the carotenes, but the fish or liver sources). Symptoms of toxicity are throbbing headaches, hair loss, fatigue, nausea, appetite and weight loss, swelling of the ankles, vomiting, and dry shedding skin. An excellent way to get natural high dose carotenes is by juicing. The Juice Man is absolutely right when he tells you about the vital fresh nutrients that you get from juicing. Naturally fresh homemade juice is a source of not only vitamin A, and many other vitamins, but of all the enzymes necessary to absorb the nutrients. Freshly made juice is also extremely cleansing to the digestive tract, and you could actually "eat" your five carrots, or four cups of spinach by juicing them!

(C) Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is a water soluble vitamin and an excellent antioxidant. It detoxifies the system, is essential in red blood cell production, builds resistance to infections and shock, helps to heal burns and wounds, aids absorption of iron, conserves iodine, is essential for collagen production, bone and tooth formation, and maintains healthy gums. Since we do not produce vitamin C, we must daily ingest foods which contain it. A deficiency of vitamin C can cause capillary fragility and therefore easy bruising, impaired adrenal gland function, bleeding gums, anemia, nosebleeds, poor digestion, and weakened cartilage. Severe deficiency of vitamin C results in the deficiency disease, scurvy. Although the relationship between citrus fruits, ascorbic acid and scurvy was not officially established until the twentieth century, scurvy was first recognized in the time of the Crusades and was common in explorers and sailors on long sea journeys when fresh fruit was unavailable. It manifests with bleeding gums and wounds that won’t heal. The nickname "limey" originated with British sailors because they were fed limes, lemons and oranges to prevent scurvy.
Food sources of vitamin C are all fresh fruits and vegetables. One cup of orange juice contains about 125 mg. of C. One cup of steamed broccoli contains about 150 mg. and a cup of green peppers contains about 100 mg. It would be difficult, if not nearly impossible to get even one gram of vitamin C from your daily diet, therefore supplementation in the form of powders, capsules or tablets is a convenient way to take it. In some cases, if a person is very sick, IV vitamin C can be administered.
Although vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin, mega doses of the nutrient can cause a type of toxicity which produces burning urination, loose stools, and skin rashes. Unless prescribed otherwise by your doctor, no more than 5,000 mg. should be taken per day. Check the list of deficiency symptoms and if you have any you should start taking vitamin C regularly to bring your body back into balance. And remember, juicing can provide you with all your necessary vitamins, including C, and adding a lemon or an orange to your juice gives it a wonderful flavor.

(E) Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin which used internally, markedly slows the aging process, aids in fertility, lowers cholesterol, strengthens capillary walls, aids blood flow to the heart, prevents blood clots, is a diuretic, protects the lungs, enhances male potency, neutralizes toxins, maintains healthy muscles and nerves, speeds healing, and enhances the utilization of oxygen. Externally, application of vitamin E heals burns, scars, warts, wounds, and wrinkles. Numerous studies have been conducted over many years, all coming to similar conclusions, that vitamin E reduces free radical damage, prevents atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, improves immune function, and slows aging and aging-related problems.
Deficiency symptoms of vitamin E are dry skin, dry, brittle, or falling hair, in men, enlarged prostate or other prostate problems, heart disease, digestive problems, impotence, miscarriages and sterility, and muscle weakness or wasting.
Sources of vitamin E are wheatgerm, most vegetable oils, eggs, nuts, some fruits, dark green vegetables, organ meats like liver, and butter. Since the advent of the processing and refining of flour, stripping all nutrients from wheat flour except the high caloric content, heart disease has steadily risen in our country. Unfortunately, companies have not figured out how to replenish the essential vitamin E back into their "enriched" product. A few B vitamins here and there are supposed to give the bleached white substance some food value, but white flour simply has no food value to speak of! Also, freezing and deep frying foods kills vitamin E.
One tablespoon of vegetable oil contains approximately 20 IU of vitamin E, (IU signifies International Units—1 mg of tocopherol or vitamin E is equivalent to approximately 1.5 IU). One cup of almonds contains 30 IU (although one cup of almonds also contains about 1,000 calories and almost all of them from fat), a quarter cup of wheat germ contains about 200 IU, a piece of liver, about 400 IU. The suggested daily therapeutic range is from 100 to 800 IU. Because vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin, toxicity and adverse effects can occur at higher dosages. Those symptoms are elevated blood pressure if starting at high doses (so 200 IU is a good starting dose). Toxicity is rare, although caution is wise. Ask your doctor if you are wanting to take vitamin E and you are on anti-coagulant therapy, or if you have hypertension or thrombophlebitis.
There is no question, vitamin E protects the body from excessive oxidative damage, protects individual cell membranes from a process called lipid peroxidation, enhances vitamin A activity, and reproductive capability. In fact, when vitamin E was discovered in 1922, and named "E" after its discoverers, Evans, Emerson, and Bishop, the substance that they isolated from vegetable oil, they named tocopherol after the Greek word tokos, which means offspring, because when it was withheld from experimental rat's diets, they failed to reproduce, but when replaced, produced robust offspring.

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