Antioxidants Explained: Free Radicals, Oxidative Stress, and Protection

The Basics: Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress

Metabolism — the body's normal chemical activity — generates reactive molecules, commonly called free radicals. The body has its own systems for keeping them in balance. When that balance is strained, the resulting state is called oxidative stress. This is everyday biology, not a disease: oxidative stress is a normal process that the body manages continuously, and it is not something a capsule switches off.

Where Antioxidants Fit

Antioxidants are substances that can interact with free radicals. The body produces some itself and takes in others through food — vitamin C is among the best-known examples, present in fruit and vegetables. A varied diet with plenty of plants is the main, evidence-backed way most people support their body's own balance. The idea that a supplement "detoxes" or "neutralises" free radicals in a way food does not is marketing language, not regulation.

What the Approved Wording Allows

For food supplements in the EU, nutrient-function claims are regulated and narrow. The claims used in the Nutri-Leaf formulas read:

• Vitamin C contributes to the normal function of the immune system and to normal energy-yielding metabolism, and to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin.
• Zinc contributes to the normal function of the immune system.
• Selenium contributes to the normal function of the immune system.

Notice the shape: "contributes to the normal function of X". No authorised claim says a product "fights oxidative stress" or "protects against ageing". When a label goes beyond the approved wording, treat everything else on it with the same scepticism.

How to Actually Support Your Body's Balance

• Vegetables and fruit every day — the classic and still the best-supported way to take in a wide range of food compounds.
• Normal sleep, regular movement, and not smoking — lifestyle factors matter more for oxidative stress than any single nutrient.
• Supplement only a real gap — and read whether the product's wording stays within the approved claims.

The Vitamin C 1000 mg capsules and the Immunity Complex Capsules declare their formulas with the approved nutrient wording on the product pages. For what supplements can and cannot do overall, start with food supplements vs whole foods.

Food supplements are not a substitute for a balanced and varied diet and a healthy lifestyle.