How Vitamin E Can Retard Aging (in simple terms)

Whenever I would see a commercials of vitamin E, be it lotion or shampoo or supplement or anything that has this vitamin in it, I hear all the time testimonies of celebs or just plain beautiful people that it will make them look young and beautiful. Really? It will make me look young and beautiful? With the advent of human desire to be good looking while staying young, this really sells. This got me into studying it whether it really backs up what it claims to be.

I do not know anything about vitamin E except that it is an antioxidant.

What is an antioxidant? 

When I asked a chemist friend of mine what is oxidation, he gave me a very simple illustration. If you cut an apple and you just leave it out in the open for about 5 mins, you will notice that the surface where you cut it had gone a bit brownish in color due to its exposure to oxygen. This is oxidation. To counter this effect, we need antioxidants. Vitamin E is one of them. I had never read any educated article on this vitamin without me reading the word 'free radicals'. These are what vitamin E is trying to protect us against.

What are free radicals?

If you listened to your highschool chemistry teacher, you will know what I am talking about. According to wikipedia, 

...radicals (often referred to as free radicals) are atoms, molecules or ions with unpaired electrons on an otherwise open shell configuration. These unpaired electrons are usually highly reactive, so radicals are likely to take part in chemical reactions.

These unpaired electrons are unstable and easily detached from their mother atom and combine with other atoms. According to the Office of Dietary Supplements of NIH, free radicals can damage potentially by-products of of energy and cells and may add to the development of heart disease and cancer. This is where vitamin E comes in. It is able to limit the production of free radicals and might help prevent or delay the development of such chronic diseases. It can also boost the immune function, repair DNA and other metabolic process. See the NIH-ODS site for more details on vitamin E.

So where does 'reversing' the signs of aging come in?

According to the free radical theory of aging, the organisms age because cells accumulate free radical damage over time. Melanin is an example of a free radical but it is not chemically reactive. However, we will have a problem with free radicals which are biologically reactive. We have biological structures and the damage that free radicals can do to us is closely linked with oxidative damage. This is the same as the apple analogy or the rust formation in iron -- all due to exposure to oxygen. Here is where antioxidants like vitamin E come to the rescue. They can prevent or retard free radicals from oxidizing our sensitive biological make up therefore slowing down the aging process or disease formations.

With the pollution and heat that we have to go through wherever we are, I think we need this. Click here for foods that provide vitamin E.