Antioxidants

Antioxidants and the words ‘anti-aging’ go hand in hand. They play a critical role in helping prevent and diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Decades of environmental damage, including pollution and unprotected sun exposure are a big factor on how skin gradually looses its ability to maintain healthy looking skin. As this damage occurs, skin slowly loses its ability to regenerate and bounce back slowly as it once did before. Antioxidants help protect the surface of the skin from further degradation by soothing irritated skin and blocking out environmental assault caused by the daily effects of pollution.

Skin responds to these environmental stressors by producing Free Radicals, also known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS are considered to be a major determinant of aging and lifespan. Free radicals in skin cells can cause wrinkles as well as damage skin tone all while impairing skin to heal the way it used to.

In order to understand the way free radicals are formed, one must take a closer look at the science. Free radicals are molecules that have one or more unpaired electron. In order to be happy and healthy electrons like to always remain in pairs. When electrons are unpaired, they can contribute to highly reactive and unstable molecules. In order to become stable again, the free radical must go through the process of stealing an electron from another molecule. When a molecule loses an electron it becomes oxidized and turns into a free radical. This new free radical can then steal another electron from another perfectly paired molecule, starting a chain reaction. The structure of the molecule is permanently changed gradually resulting in irreversible damage to skin.

In order to prevent ROS from forming in the first place, antioxidants can be incorporated to help stabilize the free radical, preventing the chain reaction. Antioxidants donate electrons to free radicals to ensure they are always in pairs. They essentially sacrifice themselves, and the antioxidant becomes oxidized instead of the other molecule. The molecule does not become highly reactive and is stabilized as a result. The antioxidant becomes disabled through this process..

Free radicals are formed from normal essential metabolic processes in the human body as well as stress and poor diet. They are also formed from external sources such as exposure to air pollutants, smoking and uv radiation. If too many of these stressors are formed they can overwhelm the body’s normal defense system thereby creating free radicals. This could lead to the degradation of lipids, proteins and even DNA. This degradation brought on by oxidative stress breaks down collagen, hinders skin’s natural repair process and triggers inflammation—which eventually appear in the form of fine lines, wrinkles, loose skin, acne breakouts and blotchy skin tone. The easiest way to prevent free radical damage and premature aging is incorporating antioxidant rich ingredients known to be gentle on skin.