Antioxidants: Our Natural Protectors

A healthy antioxidant defence system strives to conserve nutritional antioxidants through metabolic recycling. However, the typical SAD (standard American diet) is clearly not supplying enough antioxidants to forestall the obvious epidemic of oxidation-related disease. Daily living in the real world places a "burn" on our antioxidant reserves. Dr. Robert Cathcart, foremost clinical authority on vitamin C, speaks of a "100-gram cold" so severe it can consume 100 grams (not milligrams) of vitamin C in a mere few days. We cannot replace this from food alone. Integrative practitioners and academic researchers agree that everyone can benefit from supplementing with antioxidants. The better the antioxidant contributions from our foods and the more supplements we take (see box), the more prepared we can be against disease.