So I’ve heard some types of vitamins are antioxidants. Obviously vitamins are essential for human health but aren’t there other types of antioxidants? I always hear people call certain phytochemicals antioxidants, but why aren’t those essential like vitamins are?
“Vitamins” aren’t a real class of chemicals.
Some dude came up with the idea a few generations ago and made a list and called them “vitamins” because they were important for life (“vita-“). He didn’t even really have the science right about why, only that their lack led to some serious problems.
And it stuck. Mostly because it’s a catchy term.
But there’s nothing essential about these substances that ties them together other than being on the list. They all do different things and are made of different things and so on.
Antioxidants, on the other hand, all perform a similar set of functions in the body, and some of them were on the vitamin list.
In short, vitamins get used in biochemical reactions in your body that make up metabolism. For example, vitamin B12 is a cofactor that is used to synthesise DNA and myelin. Without B12, your body may start to lack to raw resources to keep making myelin.
Antioxidants are chemicals that destroy harmful oxygen radicals. Radicals are atoms that are missing an electron, which makes them highly reactive meaning they damage tissues and DNA. Our bodies synthesise an endogenous antioxidant called glutathione already, so it is not imperative that we get extras in the diet, but it’s a good supplemental boost to make sure there are as few harmful radicals floating around as possible.