The products that contain them are praised: wine, green tea, olive oil, tomato, apple, peppers, coffee. They are sold in capsules, extracts, juices, creams. They are added in a multitude of foods. What are the antioxidants that cause so much? What do they do? Do they slow aging?
If the tomato is said to prevent prostate cancer, it is thanks to its lycopene content. If spinach is considered a protector at a neurodegenerative level it is because it is rich in lutein. If the moderate consumption of red wine is related to better cardiovascular health , it is due to resveratrol and other polyphenols. If the onion and the apple have a reputation for health, it is because of its quercetin content.
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Lycopene, lutein, resveratrol, quercetin ... are antioxidants. And there are many more, some as popular as vitamin C or isoflavones and others less known as thymol, methionine or p-hydroxybenzoic acid, to name but a few of the thousands that researchers have detected. Only in thyme have at least 35 different antioxidant compounds been identified. From different areas, there are people who have been researching antioxidants in food for 15 or 20 years. Why?
What makes them so interesting?
Well, they are capable of counteracting free radicals and oxidation processes of the body, those that damage cells and organs, which deteriorate the body over the years. Hence, it has been speculated with antioxidants as the possible elixir of eternal youth, associating its ability to counteract free radicals with the possibility of slowing aging. But who, like Francisco Tomás-Barberán, researcher of the CSIC and coordinator of the Fun-c-food project on functional foods, have been working with antioxidants for some time and have international prestige in the matter because, among other issues, they have managed to concentrate in resveratrol capsules , one of the antioxidants that has aroused most interest in the scientific community, say no, that these compounds "can improve some health patterns, especially in regard to vascular and intestinal functions, but not prevent aging " . Alfonso Carrascosa, a researcher at the Research Institute for Food Sciences CIAL-CSIC, also makes it clear: "Antioxidants are not a panacea against aging or against Alzheimer's; it is not easy to verify its beneficial effect on human beings ". Tomás-Barberán explains that not all the compounds that have antioxidant activity in the test tube have it in the human body, because its effectiveness depends on many factors. "Now it has been discovered that in the absorption of these compounds the microflora plays a fundamental role, the microorganisms that we have in the digestive system and that transform the antioxidants of the plants into molecules that are absorbed and have beneficial effects in our body; and recently it has been published that there are at least three different types of people because of their enterotypes, because of the type of intestinal bacteria they have, so it may be that some metabolize some antioxidants and others do not, and that the food that benefits a lot does not serve for others, "he says.
Rosa M. Lamuela, director of the research team of natural antioxidants of the Universitat de Barcelona (UB), agrees that it is difficult to attribute which food or what compound of the many that each food has to obey the beneficial effect observed among those who carry a diet rich in antioxidants, but says that consuming foods rich in antioxidants is more protected against biomarkers that indicate oxidation processes, and oxidation has to do with cardiovascular diseases such as arteriosclerosis, cancer or neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's or macular degeneration. "With antioxidants you can not stop those processes but you can decrease them; It has been proven that those who consume foods rich in them improve their biomarkers, "he explains.
According to Lamuela, although there is a lack of research to verify the real benefits in the body of compounds that show antioxidant properties in the laboratory, comparative studies have been done that have allowed to verify that the parameters linked to oxidation and inflammation -like cholesterol bad or indicators of molecular inflammation, which then affect many diseases-, improve after a week in people who are provided with wine (rich in antioxidants) and not among those who are supplied with gin (which has alcohol but no antioxidants). A greater effect on these indicators has also been proven when virgin olive oil is taken in polyphenols instead of refined olive oil; or that consumption of dark chocolate improves those parameters more than white chocolate. He adds that there are also works with experimental animals that demonstrate the effect of spinach as a protector at a neurodegenerative level; and others that prove that people who consume polyphenols have better blood pressure, and that those who consume more are those who have lower blood pressure. Recognizes, however, that many studies are missing to see if there is any concrete effect on aging and to analyze its cumulative effects, if it is the same to bet on antioxidants when they reach maturity than to take them as children, for example.
But how do antioxidants work? They are all the same? "They are compounds that block oxygen, which is one of the most aggressive chemical components on our planet; in fact, they were not discovered in relation to degenerative diseases , but by the attack of oxygen on metals and the observation that there were certain anticorrosive substances that protected them; then we saw that these substances are in food, and that plants are the organisms that have more antioxidants because they develop them to protect themselves from oxygen ", explains Carrascosa. Jesús Román, expert in nutrition and member of the Spanish Society of Dietetics, stresses that our metabolism is a combustion machine that needs oxygen to, among other things, breathe. "But these processes produce free radicals, atoms that have an excess of an electron and that seek to react with any other substance - cholesterol, DNA, arteries ... - to discharge; if they find an antioxidant along the way, it captures them, neutralizes them, and thus does not damage other tissues, "he summarizes. On the other hand, if the oxygen reacts with the DNA, it alters its composition and, with it, the mechanisms that have to do with genetics, causing cellular damage, changes in the original composition of the organs and alterations in their function. "It has been proven, for example, that in carcinogenic processes there is an oxidation of substances that induces mutations that attack DNA, and that is why it is thought that antioxidants can help prevent certain types of cancer," says Carrascosa.
José Viña, professor of Physiology at the Universitat de València and researcher of oxidative processes and aging, explains that, apart from those we ingest, our body possesses endogenous antioxidants that are produced as a reaction to free radicals, which in some way they act as a stimulator of the defenses themselves. That is why he cautions that berthing with antioxidants - for example, taking vitamin concentrates or other compounds - can be counterproductive, because all oxidants are neutralized and the body is not allowed to generate its own antioxidants and defenses. Jesús Román assures that in children and healthy people, the oxidation processes of the organism are counteracted by the antioxidants produced by the body itself or obtained from what one eats. "The imbalance occurs if there is a bad diet, the metabolism fails or we force the body a lot - like elite athletes - because then oxidation increases, and the way to avoid it is a diet rich in antioxidants," he says. At the last congress of the European Federation of Nutrition Societies, it became clear that oxidants, like free radicals, also have valuable functions, such as enhancing defenses, and that's why we should not try to finish them off, but achieve a balance between oxidants and antioxidants. In this framework, José Viña emphasized how exercise, physical activity, generates free radicals and, however, is healthy except in high competition.
There is enough unanimity in that, in general, antioxidants work well in low and maintained doses, which is how they are ingested in the diet, without being able to demonstrate the concrete functionality of each of them, since food, in addition to Antioxidants contain hundreds of ingredients that also prevent diseases. Anyway, it has been proven that not all antioxidants are the same or produce the same effects. "Depending on their characteristics, they affect one process or another of the organism; with a gastrointestinal simulator that reproduces the functioning and juices of the intestine we have verified, for example, that the polyphenols in the grape have an antimicrobial effect, that they act against the bacterium that causes the gastroduodenal ulcer and against the one that produces most diarrheal diseases " explains Carrascosa. Viña, on the other hand, assures that polyphenols do not have as much relevance as antioxidants in themselves as for their ability to stimulate their own antioxidants. He explains that there are studies done in convents that show that nuns who drank two glasses of wine a day increased their levels of antioxidant defenses. And he relates these polyphenols with the so-called French paradox: the fact that in France there is no more population with high cholesterol rates despite their diet rich in animal fats, which is attributed to the habit of eating with wine.
There are other antioxidants, such as vitamin C or E, that directly attack free radicals. But they do not act the same either. Vitamin C, water-soluble, prevents damage to aqueous compartments, while fat-soluble E protects fatty tissues. "That's why the important thing is to combine, to take a diet rich in fruits and vegetables varied to ingest all kinds of antioxidants: those that prevent oxidants from forming and those that avoid the damage of oxidation," remarks Viña. Tomás-Barberán adds that antioxidants also play an important role in protecting other nutrients and facilitating their absorption. "Vitamin A, C and E are degraded during food handling and digestion, so if the product contains polyphenols these substances are more protected and the levels of vitamin absorbed by the body are higher, and when we eat blue fish, whose Unsaturated fatty acids are easily oxidized, we will absorb them better if we take them with vegetables that contain antioxidants, "he explains.
Beyond the food we eat, every day more are sold in pills, juices, extracts added to other products ... And it is in this field where antioxidants provoke more controversy . There are experts who distrust this extra intake covered by the fact that the isolated functionality of each one has not been demonstrated; there are those who warn that taken in high doses become prooxidants, and there are those who think, like Tomás-Barberán, that it can not be generalized. "The main antioxidant of virgin olive oil is better absorbed into the oil than isolated, but in other cases the active ingredient is small and if it is increased with a dietary supplement it improves its absorption, or if it is protected in a capsule it is prevented from Degrade in the stomach, "he justifies.