The primary components of the antioxidant network are:
Vitamin C
The "hub" of the network.
Vitamin E
Essential protection for your heart.
Coenzyme Q-10
For a healthy heart and cardiovascular system.
Glutathione
Your body's primary water-soluble antioxidant.
Lipoic acid
Both fat- and water-soluble.

These are by no means the only antioxidants that play a significant role in your health. Working with this network are certain plant phytochemicals: the bioflavonoids and carotenoids, and the trace mineral selenium.
In addition to these, there are many other specialized antioxidants that you'll want to know about. You'll find them all here, throughout this website.

"More than 70 percent of Americans will die prematurely from diseases caused by or compounded by deficiencies of the antioxidant network… these conditions can be prevented, controlled, and in some cases, even cured."
Dr. Lester Packer, PhD

This article is taken from www.dailymail.co.uk, written by Fiona Macrae.

A simple vitamin pill could prevent millions from suffering the agony of Alzheimer's.

The tablet, costing as little as 10p a day and made up of three vitamin B supplements, cut brain shrinkage linked to memory loss by up to 500 per cent.

Oxford University researchers behind the landmark study said it offered the 'first glimmer of hope' in the battle to find a drug that slows or stops the development of Alzheimer's.

It and other forms of dementia blight the lives of more than 800,000 Britons, and the number of cases is expected to double within a generation.

No previous drug trials have been successful and, with around 500 new cases of Alzheimer's diagnosed every day in the UK alone, anything that delays the development of the disease could improve the lives of millions.

The breakthrough centres on a compound called homocysteine which is naturally made in the body and, at high levels, has been linked to memory loss and Alzheimer's.

Vitamin B is known to break down homocysteine, so the researchers decided to look at whether giving patients the vitamin would be good for memory.

Working with colleagues in Norway, the Oxford team recruited 270 pensioners suffering from slight memory lapses that can be a precursor to Alzheimer's. 

Known as mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, it affects one in six aged 70-plus, or 1.5million Britons.

Vitamin B cut the amount of shrinkage by 30 per cent, on average, the journal PLoS ONE reports.

In those with the highest amounts of homocysteine in their bloodstream at the start of the study, it halved the shrinkage and in one extreme case, it cut it five-fold.

Those with the slowest rate of shrinkage did best in memory tests and in some cases their ability to recall lists was as good at the end of the trial as it was at the start.

Professor David Smith, one of the study leaders, said: 'This is a very striking, dramatic result. It is our hope this simple and safe treatment will delay the development of Alzheimer's in many who suffer from mild memory problems.'

Co-researcher Professor Helga Refsum added: 'Here we have a very simple solution: you give some vitamins and you seem to protect the brain.'

The results suggest that a basic cocktail of vitamins can achieve results that have evaded pharmaceutical companies, despite billions of pounds being spent on experimental dementia drugs.

Professor Smith said: 'This was a disease-modifying study. All other disease modifying trials have failed. What we can say is that this is the first one that shows a glimmer of hope and success.'

The professor plans to run a larger trial which will look at whether the vitamin cocktail actually affects the onset of Alzheimer's.

If the trial is successful, high dose vitamin B could be widely prescribed to those with mild memory loss in as little as five years.

Those who do not want to wait can make their own vitamin cocktail with supplements on sale at health food stores.

But the researchers stress that people should not do this without speaking to their doctor first.

High dose vitamins may trigger cancer and are known to fuel existing cancers. They may also react with medicines including arthritis and psoriasis drugs.

Despite this, Professor Smith says he ‘would not hesitate’ to take the cocktail of 20mg of vitamin B6, 0.8mg of vitamin B9, or folate, and 0.5mg of vitamin B12, himself, if he were diagnosed with MCI.

The Alzheimer’s Research Trust, which part-funded the study, said that delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s by five years could halve the number of those who die with the condition.

Rebecca Wood, the charity’s chief executive, said: ‘These are very important results.’

The Alzheimer’s Society gave the research a cautious welcome. Professor Clive Ballard said: ‘This could change the lives of thousands of people at risk of dementia. However, previous studies looking at B vitamins have been very disappointing and we wouldn’t want to raise people’s expectations yet.’

● A drug that may combat the sticky deposits that clog up the brains of Alzheimer’s patients has been created by U.S. scientists. In tests on mice it cut levels of a compound key to plaque formation, without any side-effects, the journal Neuron reports.

If you have not read part 1, please scroll to the article before to do so.

Part 2
by Dwight Lundell MD

February 6 2009

Take a moment to visualise rubbing a stiff brush repeatedly over soft skin until it becomes quite red and nearly bleeding.

Let’s say you keep this up several times a day, every day for five years. If you can tolerate this painful brushing, you will have a bleeding, swollen infected area that worsens with each repeated injury. This is a good way to visualise the inflammatory process that could be going on in your body right now.

Regardless of where the inflammatory process occurs, externally or internally, it is the same. I have peered inside thousands upon thousands of arteries. A diseased artery looks as if someone took a brush and scrubbed repeatedly against its wall. Several times a day, everyday, the foods we eat create small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond continuously and appropriately with inflammation.

While we savour the tantalising taste of a sweet roll, our bodies respond alarmingly as if a foreign invader arrived to declare war. Foods loaded with sugars and simple carbohydrates, or processed with omega-6 oils for long shelf life have been the mainstay of the American diet for six decades. Unfortunately these foods have been slowly poisoning everyone.

How does eating a simple sweet roll create a cascade of inflammation to make you sick? Imagine spilling syrup on your keyboard and you have a visual of what occurs inside the cell. When we consume simple carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin whose primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works. When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.

What does all this have to do with inflammation? Blood sugar is controlled in a very narrow range. Extra sugar molecules attach to a variety of proteins that in turn injure the blood vessel wall. It is this repeated injury to the blood vessel wall that sets off inflammation. When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, everyday, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.

While you may not be able to see it, rest assured it is there. I saw it in over 5,000 surgical patients spanning 25 years who all shared one common denominator – inflammation in their arteries.

Let us now get back to the sweet roll. That innocent looking goody not only contains sugars, it is baked in one of many omega-6 oils such as soybean. Chips and fries are soaked in soybean oil; processed foods are manufactured with omega-6 oils for

longer shelf life. While omega-6’s are essential – they are part of every cell membrane controlling what goes in and out of the cell – they must be in correct balance with omega-3’s. If the balance shifts by consuming excessive omega-6, the cell membrane produces chemicals called cytokines that directly cause inflammation. Today’s mainstream American diet has produced an extreme imbalance of these two fats. The ratio of imbalance ranges from 15:1 to as high as 30:1 in favour of omega-6. That’s a tremendous amount of cytokines causing inflammation. In today’s food environment, a 3:1 ratio would be optimal and healthy.

To make matters worse, the excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells that pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar. The process that began with a sweet roll turns into a vicious cycle over time that creates heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and finally, Alzheimer’s disease, as the inflammatory process continues unabated. There is no escaping the fact that the more we consume. 

Ed. Note: Dr. Dwight Lundell is the past Chief of Staff and Chief of Surgery at Banner Heart Hospital , Mesa , Arizona . His private practice, Cardiac Care Centre was also in Mesa , AZ. Recently Dr. Lundell left surgery to focus on the nutritional treatment of heartdisease. He is the founder of Healthy Humans Foundation that promotes human health with a focus on helping large corporations promote wellness. He is the author of ‘The Cure for Heart Disease and The Great Cholesterol Lie.’

William Li, who heads the Angiogenesis Foundation, a nonprofit that is re-conceptualizing global disease fighting, thinks there is a better way of treating cancer and other diseases: Eating foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game. It is called anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor.

You can read about Angiogenesis Inhibitors Therapy on National Cancer Institute's website:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/angiogenesis-inhibitors

but I think watching William Li on this 20 minute video is more interesting :)