ABSTRACT
Healthy aging and disease prevention by antioxidant nutrition is increasingly a subject of academic and public health interest and research. This chapter will provide an overview of oxidative stress and the antioxidant defense system. Antioxidants play an important role in maintaining the physiological redox status of cellular constituents. Antioxidants may quench free radicals, change their redox state, be targeted for destruction, regulate oxidative processes involved in signal transduction, and affect gene expression and pathways of cell proliferation, differentiation, and death. The action of antioxidants that interact with the redox antioxidant network will be highlighted, especially the bioflavonoid-rich botanical extracts from pine bark (Pycnogenol
) and Gingko biloba leaves (EGb 761).
