Antioxidants & Weight Loss

Weight loss is of interest to many people. Some are interested in losing weight for superficial reasons, others may have medically related reasons for wanting to lose weight, and still others may be interested in losing weight for to improve their overall health. An increased interest in the health benefits of antioxidants includes the study of their effect on weight loss.

Weight Loss and Fat

• Most weight loss focuses on the decrease of fat content in the body. Fat is a necessary element in the healthy function of the body. There are two types of body fat: essential fat, which is necessary for reproduction and other body functions; and storage fat, which is essential in protecting certain organs of the body. Fat is stored in adipose tissue, which contains lipids that are necessary to convert nutrients into energy.

How Weight Loss Affects the Body

• One of the functions of fat cells is the storage of toxins that are released during the digestive process. When body fat content is reduced, the increase of toxins in the body can produce some negative side effects. These extra toxins can affect the liver, where toxins are normally processed and removed, by causing it to work harder than normal. The breakdown of fat molecules also releases free radicals, which can cause damage to cells, protein and DNA. This process is called oxidation.

Effects of Oxidation

• Free radicals are unstable atoms that look for electrons in the body to become stable. They will attack cells to obtain their electrons. The re-stabilized atoms then release more free radicals, which continue the process. This creates a chain reaction that can ultimately become debilitating to the body. The body creates its own antioxidants to break this chain reaction, as well as to fight the creation of free radicals to begin with.

Weight Loss

• Losing weight, by its very nature, may have the added effect of the loss of some nutrients necessary for good health, including vitamins, minerals, carotenoids and polyphenols. Some studies indicate that certain vitamin and mineral supplements may also contain higher levels of antioxidants, thereby providing nutritional support as well as protection against the destructive actions of oxidation. Some antioxidants may also improve cellular integrity in certain parts of the body, such as the reported benefits of carotenoids for macular pigment density in the eye.

Other Information

• The Food and Drug Administration has not yet given its approval to the benefits of taking antioxidants. According to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, some cancer specialists suspect that antioxidants may, in fact, inhibit certain cancer treatments. In fact, none of the claims, either pro or con, about the use of antioxidant supplements have yet to be conclusively established.