ANTIOXIDANTS protect you from free radical attacks and aging

What would you call an herb that could safely help slow aging, promote heart health, and reduce the risk of  a whole host of diseases - not least among them cancer? A miracle? Well, maybe. But science calls it ANTIOXIDANT. When most people think  of antioxidants, they think of this: a few hundred milligrams of vitamin C  in the morning, a vitamin E supplement  to stave of heart attack.
But vitamin supplements are far from the only sources of antioxidant protection. Plenty of herbs offer it, too. Some herbs, in fact, are as much as 50 times more powerful than the most popular antioxidant vitamins.
Want to know which herbs provide nature's best antioxidant protection? Read on.
The term free radical sounds like it describes an escaped terrorist. In a sense, it does. Freer radicals are highly reactive oxygen molecules that  are formed as by-products of normal metabolic reactions. They act upon the cells and tissues of your body to produce significant damage - terrorizing them, if you will.
Antioxidants come to our rescue by neutralizing these free radical molecules. If they aren't neutralize, free radicals create all sorts of trouble, reacting with proteins, fats, and nucleic acid (DNA)  to cause changes that can lead to heart disease, arthritis, cancer, and various degenerative conditions. Almost all of these conditions are associated with the aging process, so the direct effects of an antioxidants can actually reduce some of the effects of growing old.
Among the most effective antioxidants are a series of compounds known collectively as polyphenolic derivatives. Individually, they have a bewildering number of names that are even more confusing, so scientists  lump them together under the name OPCs.
OPCs are found  in a number of higher plants, ranging from foods such as blueberries to grape seeds, pine bark (PYCNOGENOL), and green tea. Their primary antioxidant  activity is preventing  the oxidation of  low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or bad cholesterol in the blood. That makes the LDL less sticky to build up on the artery walls. When your arteries are clear, you're fat less likely to have a heart attack. OPCs also help strengthen tiny blood vessels, thus improving circulation.