Antioxidant Special

Part 4

When we combine our antioxidants correctly, synergy boosts their effectiveness

The power of synergy

On their own, individual antioxidants are powerful. But we are now realizing that their true benefit lies in how they work together—their synergy.

A number of studies point out that when used in combinations, antioxidants are even more powerful. Al Tapel, Ph.D., at the University of California at Davis, has compared antioxidant ability. He has found a combination of vitamin E, selenium, and beta carotene to be much more effective than the individual antioxidants and a group of nine antioxidants (including vitamin E, selenium, beta carotene, coenzyme Q10, and vitamin C) to be much more protective than two antioxidants (Free Radical Biology and Medicine 20 (1966): 165-73).

This may well be due at least in part to something called antioxidant cycling. Antioxidant cycling is the term that describes how antioxidants work together to extend each others’ lives and make each other more powerful.

When the antioxidant vitamin E disables free radicals, it becomes a minor free radical. Vitamin C, alpha-lipoic acid, and coenzyme Q10 convert the radical form of vitamin E back to its antioxidant-self. However, when vitamin C recycles vitamin E, it changes to a free radical. Alpha-lipoic acid and glutathione can both “recycle” vitamin C back into a potent antioxidant.

N-acetylcysteine is used by the body to manufacture glutathione, and alpha-lipoic acid regenerates glutathione, ensuring that the body has an adequate supply. Selenium is part of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, which recycles glutathione.

OPCs also play a role in cycling, as they sacrifice themselves in order to neutralize harmful free radicals within the body. In doing so, they make it possible for vitamins C and E and selenium to do less “antioxidant” work, allowing these nutrients to perform their other functions in the body.

Observe then, the antioxidant army. Its individual components are strong individually, but when we give them the opportunity to work together, you have a fighting force that can defeat disease and slow down aging.