Kemin Industries, Inc. Personal Care Division 2100 Maury Street Des Moines, IA 50317, USA toll free: 800.777.8307 www.kemin.com/personalcare
How Mother Nature Protects Satish Nayak, Ph.D Kemin Industries, Inc., 2100 Maury Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50317, USA Abstract Despite being necessary for sustaining life on this planet, oxygen can have several detrimental effects. One of the most common negative effects is the unwanted oxidation of matter. The ubiquity and reactivity of oxygen renders it the ability to oxidize everything that it ‘touches’. To counteract these oxidative reactions all living matters have evolved measures that can slow down or nullify these reactions. One of the measures developed include production of molecules called antioxidants. Plants primarily produce antioxidants to protect their photo-synthetic pathway which is constantly under ‘oxidative attack’. The type of antioxidant produced depends on several factors such as the type of the plant, geographical region, soil, environment, and where the plant is in its life cycle. The resulting antioxidant(s) developed are most often complex in their structure and functionality, which can rarely be manufactured outside of the plant. By using novel methodologies these antioxidants can be extracted from various biological sources such as plants and algae for use by humans in various applications such as foods, medicines and cosmetics. Keywords: Oxidation, antioxidants, phytochemicals, plants, algae and personal care