The vast majority of antioxidant supplements sold today are “direct antioxidants”. Direct antioxidants attempt to neutralize free radicals through direct consumption of antioxidant pills, juices, or other products.

These products of highly concentrated levels of vitamin A, C and E were previously thought to effectively eliminate free radicals, but scientists are now realizing the limitations of direct antioxidants.

A single direct antioxidant molecule eliminates one free radical before it is neutralized.

There are supplements however that will, either with a  blend of phytonutrients or with gene actvators will signal your body’s genes to produce antioxidant enzymes, SOD (superoxide dismutase) and CAT (catalase).

These enzymes are catalytic, which means that SOD and CAT are not used up when they neutralize free radicals.

By stimulating the production of your own antioxidant enzymes to the levels you had when you were young would have incredible anti-aging properties.

Glutathione has been studied extensively lately as a key anti-aging compound. Yet it is not successfully utilized as ingested, it has to be produced by the body for optimal effectiveness.

One product which claimed to accomplish the production of these powerful anti-oxidants, and that I tried for over a year, is Protandim.

As it’s claim was to reduce oxidative stress as a result of getting my body to product more of these antioxidant enzymes, I decided to put it to the test.

While I have not been ill, blood tests for TBARs, a measure of oxidative stress, did not confirm a reduction in oxidative stress, but rather a slight increase over the 6 or so months between them.

The following shows a list of Protandim’s ingredients in a proprietary formula:

Milk thistle extract (Silybum marianum) (seed) Bacopa extract (Bacopa monnieri) (aerial part) Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) (root) Green tea extract (Camellia sinensis) (leaf) Turmeric extract (Curcuma longa) (rhizome)

Tolomere Length Regulation (PDF)