It has been found that a substantial link exists between free radicals and more than sixty different health conditions, including the aging process, cancer, and atherosclerosis. By reducing exposure to free radicals and increasing the intake of antioxidant enzyme rich foods or antioxidant enzyme supplements, your body's potential to reducing the risk of free radical-related health problems is made more palpable. Free radicals contain an odd, unpaired electron which causes them to be very unstable and react quickly with other compounds. Because it is the nature of free radicals, which is basically an atom with an unpaired electron, to achieve stability, they will try to do so by capturing the needed electron from other molecules. Antioxidants, it seems, have created quite a huge wave in the scientific community that is devoting countless journals and magazine articles about their many benefits. Antioxidants are substances that work on free radicals, or more particularly work to counteract the damaging effects of these harmful oxygen byproducts. With the possible exception of longevity medicine, antioxidant antiaging is one of the fastest growing segments of medicine. How antioxidant antiaging works As you process food for energy, your body produces substances that are highly unstable. The process is called oxidation and the substance produced is called "free radicals. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables like cabbages, cauliflowers, and Brussels sprouts are great antioxidant foods. They help prevent cancer and ward off heart disease. Cruciferous vegetables contain a compound called "indole-3-carbinol which is an antioxidant that reduces the risk of breast cancer and other estrogen-sensitive cancers, like cancer of the ovaries and the cervix. We've been eating them for centuries and it's only now that scientists are beginning to discover exactly what makes them healthy for the body. Antioxidants. What exactly are they? The term is familiar to us. We hear them mentioned all the time whenever there's a new scientific study being released in the American Health Journal or some such explaining how antioxidant juice from berries can aid in liver function or how antioxidant juice from red wine is the scientific reason behind the French paradox.