Vitamins C and E, green tea, red wine, blueberries, pomegranates.... Just mention “antioxidants” and aging Baby Boomers perk up, intrigued by the notion that a simple food source could help fend off disease and slow aging. But recent headlines about the inefficacy of single-antioxidant supplements, such as vitamin E, have fueled doubts about these miracle compounds. With consumers spending $3.3 billion annually on antioxidant supplements, according to Nutrition Business Journal, the question looms: Do they work, or not?

Absolutely, say researchers: Just not the way we thought they did. “The evidence is very strong that dietary antioxidants can promote health and reduce risk for chronic disease,” says Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, director of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at Tufts University. “But we now recognize they do more than quench free radicals.”

In fact, scientists say, certain “indirect antioxidants”—like sulforaphane from broccoli, curcumin from turmeric, or anthocyanins from berries—can actually prompt the body to produce more of its own antioxidants, mounting a powerful defense against oxidative stress for several days. Meanwhile, new research is showing all antioxidants—whether “direct” or “indirect”—seem to work better together. “Loading up on one antioxidant would be like sending in one fireman to put out a fire,” says Canadian nutritionist and holistic physician Bryce Wylde, author of The Antioxidant Prescription (Random House, 2008). “ [Antioxidants] work like a team.”

As far back as the 1950s, scientists began to notice that Mother Nature plays a cruel joke: We need food and air to live, but as our cells metabolize nutrients and oxygen they create “free radicals” that flood our bodies and eat away at cell membranes. That “oxidative stress” is linked to everything from wrinkles to dementia to clogged arteries. In essence, experts say, oxidative stress is why we age.

When we’re young and healthy, our body churns out antioxidants to mop up those free radicals. “Like a new car, we have this remarkable array of catalytic converters to clean up the byproducts of burning fuel,” says Joe McCord, PhD, a pioneer in antioxidant research from the University of Colorado–Denver. The bad news, he says: The older we get, the weaker our catalytic converters become.

At first, test-tube studies indicated that food-derived antioxidants could significantly bolster our defenses, gobbling up those circulating cell-destroyers. “For about 20 years that was the buzz: You take Vitamin E or C and it annihilates free radicals,” says McCord. But it turns out the equation is not so simple.

Next page: Indirect vs. direct antioxidants