Many people still believe that antioxidants slow down aging.

Antioxidants are substances that neutralize free radicals, and include vitamin A, vitamin E, coenzyme Q10, beta-carotene, and acetyl-cysteine.

Free radicals are mainly a by-product of our metabolism. Free radicals are highly reactive particles that damage our DNA, proteins, and cell membranes.

It has been thought for many decades that this accumulation of cellular damage by free radicals contributes to aging and that antioxidants, which mop up these free radicals, extend lifespan.

Most Antioxidants Don’t Extend Lifespan

In the past two decades, many large studies found that antioxidants do not slow down aging and don’t reduce mortality (R,R,R).

One large meta-analysis consisting of 230,000 people even found that some antioxidants are associated with an increased risk of dying (R): vitamin A, vitamin E and beta-carotene intake was associated with slightly increased mortality.

Of course, many arguments can be brought up to counter these findings: in many studies the wrong form of antioxidants are given, or too low doses, or too late.

Nonetheless, both animal and human studies have painted a disappointing picture about the role of antioxidants in longevity. In well conducted studies, animals are given all kinds of antioxidant cocktails and they don’t live longer. In some low quality studies, antioxidants have been found to slow down aging, but typically when these studies are reproduced by other research groups, no longevity effects are seen.

The Dangers of Antioxidants

Many studies have shown that in some cases, antioxidants can even be dangerous, for example by increasing the risk of cancer or helping cancer to spread (metastasize) (R,R,R,R,R).

This makes sense: cancer cells are metabolically very active, so they produce huge amounts of free radicals as a side effect of their metabolism. When antioxidants neutralize these free radicals, it can be to the benefit of the cancerous cells.

For this reason, cancer patients are often times advised not to take antioxidants.

Other studies show that antioxidants can undo the beneficial effects of exercise (R). Taking antioxidants to “recuperate” faster from exercise is likely not a good idea.

Why Most Antioxidants Don’t Extend Lifespan

Research shows that most antioxidants do not extend lifespan.

And if some antioxidants do extend lifespan, it’s often not because of their antioxidant activity, but because of other mechanisms, such as their anti-inflammatory, epigenetic, or mitochondrial activity.

But why is it that most antioxidants don’t work?

One problem is that antioxidants, when taken orally, cannot enter the regions in the cells where they are most needed, or they don’t reach high enough concentrations.

Even then, studies in which animals are genetically modified to produce much more antioxidant enzymes (like catalase), do not live longer. These antioxidant enzymes should work much better than antioxidants taken by mouth, but they still do not seem to have significant effects on lifespan.

Even more confusingly, mounting evidence shows that the substances antioxidants are supposed to neutralize, free radicals, can even have life extension effects.

For example, genetically modified worms that produce more free radicals live 32% longer. Giving worms a weed-controlling herbicide that creates a surge in free radical production extends lifespan in these worms by 58% (R). 

How is this possible? Free radicals can function as a benign warning sign, revving up the cell’s defense mechanisms, like detoxification enzymes and repair proteins, protecting our cells against age-related damage.

That’s one reason why exercise is healthy: during exercise you produce a lot of free radicals because your cells have to work much harder. These exercise-induced free radicals activate all kinds of repair and defense mechanisms in our cells, so that the cells can better protect themselves against the next time you exercise. In the meantime, these revved-up defense and repair mechanisms also protect you against aging and aging-related diseases.

Antioxidants Aren’t The Primary Factor For What Makes Food Healthy

Besides exercise, we know that foods like vegetables, fruits and green tea are healthy. The classic, main explanation for this is that these foods contain antioxidants. This is an oversimplification. A reason that certain foods are healthy is not because of their antioxidant activity, but because these food contain slightly toxic substances. These substances up-regulate detoxification and repair enzymes in the body, so that our body is better protected against damage.

Going beyond oxidants, healthy food contains substances that have epigenetic effects, that reduce inflammation, that are beneficial to the gut microbiome, that do not overstimulate aging pathways (like mTOR or insulin receptors), and that improve mitochondrial functioning. And of course, healthy foods deliver vitamins and minerals our body needs to function properly.

Antioxidants and Aging

The whole notion that antioxidants can slow down aging is a huge oversimplification of the aging process.

We know that we age because of many other mechanisms than accumulation of oxidative damage.

We age because of 12 primary mechanisms, such as epigenetic dysregulation, protein accumulation, telomere shortening, mitochondrial dysfunction (in which most mitochondrial damage is not caused by oxidative damage, but by mutations in the mitochondrial DNA as a consequence of mitochondrial division), and so on. Aging is much more complex than just free radicals damaging our cellular machinery. 

Conclusion

Taking antioxidants is not a good way to extend your lifespan. Of course, when you are deficient in specific antioxidants, such as vitamin A, vitamin E or other vitamins, consuming more of them can be very useful. However, taking large doses of extra antioxidants to slow down the aging process doesn’t seem to work.

To slow down aging and to extend human lifespan, we need to look beyond oxidants and their counterparts, antioxidants. We need to take in substances that act on various other aging mechanisms, like epigenetic dysregulation, protein accumulation and mitochondrial dysfunction. For this, we created NOVOS Core.