Naturally-derived anti-oxidants have become one of the ‘super’ health ingredient that people try to look for in a food. But the researchers from University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus and the University of Bologna have now found that TEMPO–which is a well-known artificial anti-oxidant–is up to 100 times more powerful than what is considered to be the nature’s best and could help prevent us from almost everything – from skin damage to Alzheimer’s Disease.
Free radicals are highly reactive molecules that are naturally found in the body and are the result of natural processes like breathing, says Gino DiLabio, UBC Okanagan’s Chemistry Professor and the study’s co-author.
“Free radicals are a natural part of human metabolism. But when our bodies have too many, like when we’re exposed to UV radiation from the sun, when we smoke, or even when we drink alcohol, it can be a problem,” explains DiLabio. “These extremely reactive molecules can damage cells or DNA and can contribute to many different diseases, like Alzheimer’s, and some researchers think they may even be responsible for aging.”
The research team was aware that the body already possesses its own chemical defenses against free radicals through vitamin C and vitamin E, but DiLabio and his colleagues decided to know how a human-made anti-oxidant called TEMPO might perform.
Keeping this in mind, the researchers used a mimicked cell environment to examine how effective TEMPO proved to be in converting free radicals to non-harmful molecules compared to vitamin E.
“We were surprised to learn that TEMPO was up to 100 times faster at converting free radicals than vitamin E in fatty environments,” adds DiLabio. “That means that it could be a particularly effective means of protecting skin tissues or even the walls of cells from radical damage.” Dilabio says that the study might result in the development of a pharmaceutical therapy that can help prevent free radical damage.
“I could see this leading to the development of a topical cream to protect your skin after exposure to the sun or even a pill that could protect your neurons from getting damaged. The possibilities are very exciting.”
The study was published recently in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.