Do not free the radicals.

• Author: Nakhla, Tony
• Position: Medicine & Health

MAINTAINING healthy, beautiful skin requires an understanding of the body's metabolism as well as an effective strategy to combat the factors that contribute to aging and cell damage. In the rich and mysterious interplay among every single cell in your body, there is a constant battle between good and bad forces.

To join the resistance, first it is necessary to know your enemy: the oxygen-free radical. We need oxygen to live, but it turns out that oxygen has a dark side. At the molecular level, during chemical reactions, oxygen molecules become electrically charged. They are called oxygen-free radicals. Some serve beneficial purposes. For instance, the immune system depends on them to help destroy bacteria but, when free radicals abound in excess, they are toxic. They cause damage to cells' DNA, membranes, proteins, and other vital structures.

This tissue injury (oxidative damage) builds up over time and eventually can contribute to a host of serious diseases, including skin cancer. It also is responsible for many of the visual changes in our appearance as we age, such as wrinkles and loose, sagging skin. In addition to natural processes such as aging, this "radicalization" of oxygen comes about from exposure to external sources such as UV rays from sun exposure; tobacco smoke; excess alcohol consumption; certain foods; and chemicals in the environment or in your skin-care products.

If your body is under siege from free radicals, your skin will reflect the struggle. We all have seen people whose skin has been ravaged by these unhealthy behaviors, and it is not pretty. So, how do you fight free radicals? Ever since 1956, when the theory that free radicals contribute to aging first was proposed, scientists have been coming up with ways to prevent free radicals and oxidative damage.

Good news: you do not need a prescription, just a shopping cart, as some of those preventive ingredients are found at the grocery store in many common foods you already may enjoy eating. Others are available in topical skincare products. The secret weapon that these foods and products have in common is antioxidants. Antioxidants are chemical substances--vitamins and nutrients that you likely have heard about before--that neutralize free radicals and prevent them from causing further damage.

Antioxidants act to counter the effects of free radicals that form due to aging, sun damage, and other external factors. How do you prevent the formation of excess free radicals before they start? First, never tan--ever. We know for certain that prolonged exposure of unprotected skin to the sun creates free radicals and damages DNA. Damaged DNA leads to mutations, which lead to skin cancer. We also know that free radicals from sun exposure damage elastin fibers--your skin's "rubber bands"--and damaged elastin fibers make your...