Antioxidants: Can you feel the attraction?

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"One of the more obvious characteristics of plants is their wide range of bright colors. If you admire how food is presented, it’s hard to beat a plate of fruits and vegetables. The reds, greens, yellows, purples and oranges of plant foods are tempting and very healthy. This link between nicely colored vegetables and their exceptional health benefits has often been noted. It turns out that there is a beautiful, scientifically sound story behind this color/ health link. 

The colors of fruits and vegetables are derived from a variety of chemicals called antioxidants. These chemicals are almost exclusively found in plants. They are only present in animal-based foods to the extent that animals eat them and store a small amount in their own tissues. 

Living plants illustrate nature’s beauty, both in color and in chemistry. They take the energy of the sun and transform it into life through the process of photosynthesis. In this process, the sun’s energy is first turned into simple sugars, and then into more complex carbohydrates, fats and proteins. 

This complex process amounts to some pretty high-powered activity within the plant, all of which is driven by the exchange of electrons between molecules. Electrons are the medium of energy transfer. The site at which photosynthesis takes place is a bit like a nuclear reactor. The electrons zooming around in the plant that are changing the sunlight into chemical energy must be managed very carefully. If they stray from their rightful places in the process, they may create free radicals, which can wreak havoc in the plant. It would be like the core of a nuclear reactor leaking radioactive materials (free radicals) that can be very dangerous to the surrounding area. 

So how does the plant manage these complex reactions and protect against errant electrons and free radicals? It puts up a shield around potentially dangerous reactions that sponges up these highly reactive substances. The shield is made up of antioxidants that intercept and scavenge electrons that might otherwise stray from their course. 

Antioxidants are usually colored because the same chemical property that sponges up excess electrons also creates visible colors. Some of these antioxidants are called carotenoids, of which there are hundreds. They vary in color from the yellow color of beta-carotene (squash), to the red color of lycopene (tomatoes), to the orange color of the odd-sounding crytoxanthins (oranges). Other antioxidants may be colorless and these include chemicals such as ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and vitamin E, which act as antioxidants in other parts of plants that need to be protected from the hazards of wayward electrons. 

What makes this remarkable process relevant for us animals, however, is that we produce low levels of free radicals throughout our lifetime. Simply being exposed to the sun’s rays, to certain industrial pollutants and to improperly balanced nutrient intakes creates a background of unwanted free radical damage. Free radicals are nasty. They can cause our tissues to become rigid and limited in their function. It is a bit like old age, when our bodies become creaky and stiff. To a great extent, this is what aging is. This uncontrolled free radical damage also is part of the processes that give rise to cataracts, to hardening of the arteries, to cancer, to emphysema, to arthritis and many other ailments that become more common with age. 

But here’s the kicker: we do not naturally build shields to protect ourselves against free radicals. As we are not plants, we do not carry out photosynthesis and therefore do not produce any of our own antioxidants. Fortunately the antioxidants in plants work in our bodies the same way they work in plants. It is a wonderful harmony. The plants make the antioxidant shields, and at the same time make them look incredibly appealing with beautiful, appetizing colors. Then we animals, in turn, are attracted to the plants and eat them and borrow their antioxidant shields for our own health. Whether you believe in God, evolution or just coincidence, you must admit that this is a beautiful, almost spiritual, example of nature’s wisdom."

Campbell, T. Colin; Thomas M. Campbell II (2006-06-01). The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, We (pp. 92-93). 

Isn't our God amazing? His plan for us involves good health, he designed it this way! 

Happy eating,