Understanding anti-oxidants and our system

Does anyone have the short version on how antioxidants work via food  

From what I understand our body has two master anti-oxidants.  GP & SOD.  Glutathione Peroxidase and Super Oxide Dimutase.  And when we consume anti-oxidants in our food (ECGC, Turneric, Polyphenols, Resveratol, Etc...) it triggers a response from our body to produce more SOD or GP?  Not that each food has GP or SOD per se... As well as we can't consume those substances and have it make our system have higher levels... (Can't be that simple)

I'm curious if each high Anti-Oxidant triggering food tells our system to respond in a specific way?

Do we have alot of different offshoots of our master anti-oxidants?

Are they responsible for different things?  Reducing cellular super oxide exposure?  Preserving teleomeres?  Increasing plasticity of vasculature?   More efficient usage of nutrients?


If anyone has the time I think it may help others if there is a short version...

I don't think science has a positive answer on how food antioxidants work yet either. From my basic understanding, however, you have compounds that can both act as electron donors (direct antioxidants) or glutathione/SOD promoters (create a small amount of inflammation that signals to increase glutathione/SOD).

Its probably very difficult to tell how much systemic work is done by any given amount of antioxidant, given that we can't really track these things from the point of digestion and as it travels from body system to body system, undergoing redox reactions the entire way. I think the best we'd be able to do would be to consume a given amount of antioxidant substance, and then track markers for inflammation along with levels of glutathione.

And yeah, there are numerous needs/functions for antioxidants throughout the body. Oxidative stress shortens telomeres, or at least increases the rate. I mean, you can think of it in a really simple way. The structure and function of your body relies on cellular function and structure, which by its nature relies on the structure and chemical nature of the atoms that make up the molecules which are the building blocks. Any time you are generating a radical that is highly electronegative, you are compromising that atomic structure of various molecules in the cell. A highly electronegative ion like oxygen will readily "steal" them from other atoms. The result? Well, one instance of this is like a drop in the ocean. But over time if you are experiencing a lot of oxidative stress, you will have cumulative breakdown in cell structure, in enzymes, in organelles like the mitochondrion, whose DNA is more susceptible. The fatty acids in the cell membrane are particularly vulnerable to oxidation.

So in almost every physical context in the body, antioxidants have a role to play somewhere. Everything is always in constant chemical flux, with redox reactions occurring constantly. If the number of oxidants becomes too large, you experience more stress than you are capable of "handling" and a disease state can develop. I believe diabetes is a good example, and really any metabolic disorder and the resulting symptoms like coronary artery disease.

Vitamin C and vitamin E can act directly as antioxidants. So can some minerals, such as selenium. Some hormones are antioxidants, such as melatonin. A lot of things can incidentally be antioxidant without that being what we'd judge as their "evolutionary purpose". Its simply the ability to donate electrons. Without our own endogenous antioxidant enzymes though, dietary antioxidants like vitamin C and E wouldn't be enough to keep the redox state of the body in balance. We must be in balance, or disease occurs. I think a specific context of this, occurring in the mitochondria is to blame for a great deal of disease today.

Very nice key points you made in that post.