Throughout your day there is a process going on in the body that causes stress and destruction on your cells. This process is called oxidative stress. But oxidation is a very normal process that happens all the time to our body and to many things around us. The problem arises when there is a disturbance in the natural oxidation process, such as the attraction of a free radical to another molecule in the body. The impending results are often toxic effects.

In other words, highly unstable free radicals inflict considerable damage to the cell. Even moderate exercise can release free radicals and this is why athletes need high levels of antioxidant protection. In the same breath, chronic nutritional insufficiency will deplete a cell’s antioxidant status. As long as you have sufficient antioxidant stores in your cells, the damage is minimized. Such oxidative damage has been shown to be the dark force behind the onset of degenerative disease.

There has been growing medical evidence that when excessive "free radicals" are allowed to exist near the nucleus of the cell, significant damage to the DNA of the cell results. This "free radical" damage may then lead to mutation of the DNA of the cell. When the cell replicates, this mutation to the DNA is carried to the next generation of cells and the actual genetic damage that occurs can lead to abnormal growth of the cell.

If there is further oxidative stress to the DNA of the cell there is further damage. The cell will then begin to grow out of control. It then develops the ability to spread from one part of the body to another (metastasis), thus becoming a true cancer. Almost all researchers now believe that development of cancer is not an event but rather a multistage process that takes decades to develop.

Science has discovered that oxidative stress may very well be the cause of over 70 well-known, widely-spread diseases. Depending on what form of toxin or stress your body is exposed to on an ongoing basis, you could find yourself suffering, even at an early age, from diseases that could be prevented if only you'd have minimized the harmful free radicals in your system.

Here are just some of the diseases that are caused by oxidative stress:

• Heart Disease

• Cancer

• Arthritis

• Lung Disease

• Fibromyalgia

• Diabetes

• Neurodegenerative Diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's

• Autoimmune Diseases

• Eye Diseases like Macular Degeneration

Antioxidants neutralize highly reactive free radicals, stopping them dead in their tracks before they can cause structural damage to the cell. Some antioxidants are regenerated by the presence of other antioxidants – a principal reason why you should always supplement with a wide spectrum of antioxidants, rather than just one.

While a good supply of antioxidants come from natural sources like healthy food, we also need to supplement those sources. However, our food supply is increasingly being degraded through harmful growing practices and soil depletion, and can no longer be relied upon to protect us from the oxidative stress all around us.

With a healthy supply of antioxidants, you can see how our bodies are better able to withstand and ward off the "rusting" for decades longer than we currently do.