Antioxidants are necessary for a healthy life as they prevent or help us recover from a number of degenerative or age-related health problems such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and eye diseases like glaucoma and macular degeneration. The oxygen that is in the air we breathe combines with other elements in the body in a metabolic process to release energy. This natural process involves oxidation or the oxygen atom stealing an electron from another atom or molecule which must then gain another electron. Almost everything in the world is being oxidized. Fat turns rancid, paper turns brown, iron rusts and the exposed flesh of most fruit turns brown. The cells of all plants and animals are undergoing a continuous cycle of oxidation (losing an electron) and reduction (gaining an electron). The body uses antioxidants to neutralize the damage caused by oxidation. When we are young, the body generates some of the antioxidants it needs and it acquires the remainder from the food we eat. As we get older, the body generates less of the internally generated or endogenous antioxidants like CoQ10 and the free radicals outnumber the antioxidants. This means the body is unable to repair the free radical damage and it ages and becomes subject to age-related degenerative diseases.