Oxidative Stress: The Silent Threat to Brain Health

In neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, oxidative stress may be one of the brain’s worst enemies. This review explored how an imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the brain’s antioxidant defenses damages cells. Given the brain’s high oxygen use and lipid content, it's especially prone to this damage—leading to injury in proteins, DNA, and lipids.

Antioxidants have shown promise in lab settings, but human trials have delivered mixed results, likely due to poor bioavailability and late intervention. The paper calls for improved antioxidant delivery systems to better target oxidative stress at earlier stages of diseases like Alzheimer's.

What Can Help? 

Optimizing antioxidant therapy could be a powerful tool against neurodegeneration.

Source:

Singh M et al. "Role of oxidative stress and antioxidants in neurodegenerative diseases." Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2019.