Antioxidants have been a mainstay of the skin care and wellness industries for decades, exciting professionals with their oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) scores and the promises of helping stop the age-promoting damage from those pesky free radicals. What has been learned from this discourse? 

Antioxidants are easily and rapidly made by the body when needed in most healthy people in forms that are the most precise and helpful for the types of free radicals being created. Megadosing antioxidants internally was clinically proven to prevent some physiological functions of free radicals that are needed for cell signaling.1 I believe this is likely true for most antioxidants because most free radicals in the body may be health-promoting and formed on purpose to push a chemical reaction through. 

References

1. Li, S., Fasipe, B., & Laher, I. (2022, October). Potential harms of supplementation with high doses of antioxidants in athletes. Journal of exercise science and fitness. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9241084/ 
2. InformedHealth.org. (2020, October 8). Common colds: Does vitamin C keep you healthy? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279544/