We looked at free radicals earlier and we saw that they are able to cause a great deal of harm to the cells of the body. Free radicals eat away at the cell wall, they eat away at other parts of the cell, and they eat away at the DNA in the nucleus.

If you have ever put too much bleach in your wash, and afterwards saw the deterioration and holes this produced in a T-shirt or blouse, you will have some idea of what the oxidation caused by free radicals do to the cells of the body. For many men, who may have never done a load of wash (although the bleach accident may have happened to more men than women), perhaps a different analogy might serve.

If you have ever used too much fertilizer on the lawn, and applied it unevenly, you will have seen the burned out dead patches where the fertilizer has eaten away at the individual grass plants. These burned out patches in the lawn might also be likened to the effects free radicals have on our cells, tissues, and organs.

Free radicals generally consist of oxygen in one form or another, or oxygen in combination with other atoms. These free radicals all have an unpaired electron, leaving them electronically charged or unbalanced.

Because of its electrical imbalance, a free radical strives to attain neutrality by trying to combine with other atoms it comes in contact with. In so doing the free radical ends up tearing atoms and molecules out of the cell wall, out of the mitochondria (impairing ATP production), even out of the DNA in the cell nucleus (affecting code or cross-links).