Antioxidant research

Antioxidants Research Laboratory Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging Tufts University Boston, Massachusetts... 

A complete review of the application of radiation chemistry to the overall antioxidant research is beyond the scope of this chapter. 

The fundamental aspects of structure-reactivity relationships in radiation-induced oxidation of substituted benzenes, bimolecular free electron transfer on the femtosecond time scale, the chemistry of sulfur-centered radicals and the radiolysis of metalloproteins are discussed in succeeding chapters. The effects of the direct and indirect mechanisms of radiation-induced DNA damage are discussed individually in two complementary chapters. The last chapter highlights the application of radiation chemical techniques to antioxidant research. 

We often see in consumer news and advertisements that blueberries are nature s number one antioxidant fruit or are an antiaging food. Although blueberries are wonderful whole foods, we need to maintain a scientifically sound perspective of them in reference to our diets and health expectations. Describing a fruit as antioxidant-rich implies a health benefit that has not yet been scientifically proved. In fact, polyphenol antioxidant research in humans has not even reached step 3 in the health claims research pyramid, and such proof is more than ten years away. 

The applications are succinctly described and include applications of luminescence in antioxidant research, phagocytosis, microbiology, ecology, food and environmental testing, immunoassay, enzyme assays, DNA probe assays, and reporter gene and gene expression assays. 

An important goal of antioxidant research has been to provide poly-phenols of high molecular weight and low volatility. Most of the commercial sterically hindered phenols have molecular weights in the range 300-600 and above 600. Figure 1.41 depicts structural formulas [45] of the important sterically hindered phenols used as antioxidants. 

Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy has a long tradition in food science, especially related to food irradiation control. Recently, EPR has also gained attention in other fields, related to antioxidant research as well as the characterization of dairy products, tea, wine and vegetable oil. 

Research Institute for Antioxidant Therapy, 137c Invalidenstr., 10115, Berlin, Germany, E-mail ip antioxidant-research.com... 

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