Ray Peat on antioxidants

December 4, 2025

Lifestyle choices to slow down aging and promote longevity

"Altitude and a dairy-based diet are obviously two important thermogenic factors that slow the accumulation of harmful adaptations, but there are many other modifiable factors that could extend lifespan even further. Reducing inflammatory factors is important, and personal choices can make a big difference—for example, choosing easily digestible foods to reduce endotoxins, avoiding polyunsaturated fatty acids that impair cellular respiration and form inflammatory prostaglandins, avoiding antioxidant supplements that create a reductive excess, and choosing foods containing anti-inflammatory thermogenic compounds, such as citrus fruits with their high flavonoid content, which supports cellular respiratory functions."

– November 2020 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Effects of altitude therapy and their relationship to antioxidant activity

"The changes observed by Meerson's group during altitude therapy are similar to those seen with thyroid hormone and antioxidant supplementation. The lower oxygen concentration in tissues at high altitude would increase the body's antioxidant reserves, making it more resistant to stress. Similarly, reducing dietary unsaturated fat intake protects against oxidative stress."

– Mind and Tissue: Russian Research Perspectives on the Human Brain

The therapeutic effect of vitamin D in the treatment of autism

"Vitamin D has a wide range of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, which likely contribute to its therapeutic effects in autism."

– May 2018 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Questioning the theory of antioxidant protection

"The enzyme that breaks down superoxide – superoxide dismutase (SOD) – is sold as a dietary supplement, in line with the cultural narrative that aging is caused by oxidative stress and that antioxidants protect. This view is increasingly being challenged as a reductive cellular state is recognized as a common factor in shock, stress, and degeneration."

– July 2019 – Ray Peats Newsletter

The antioxidant benefits of alcohol

"Small amounts of alcohol can have some good antioxidant effects."

– Email reply from Ray Peat

Antioxidants and their role in oxygen utilization

"The biological value of antioxidants lies in their ability to allow oxygen to be used productively rather than destructively. When something impairs the normal, productive use of oxygen, there is a sharp increase in destructive forms of oxidation, such as lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant reserves become crucial. In other words, a reduction in productive respiration tends to increase the destructive use of oxygen."

– 1997 – Ray Peats Newsletter

The role of vitamin E in preventing tissue-damaging oxidation

"Antioxidants, especially vitamin E, prevent tissue damage by promoting normal oxidation."

– 1992 – June – Ray Peats Newsletter

The role of vitamin A in preventing tissue-damaging oxidation (repeated section)

“Vitamin A regulates lysosomes, and therefore a deficiency could promote the accumulation of intracellular waste. It is an antioxidant, so a deficiency could tend to induce stress-hypoxia proteins, and it is used in large quantities in the synthesis of steroids (for example, progesterone supplementation conserves vitamin A). But perhaps most importantly, dedifferentiation occurs in many cells with vitamin A deficiency. In the skin and mucous membranes, a vitamin A deficiency acts like an excess of estrogen and promotes the formation of keratin.”

– 1992 – August/September – Ray Peats Newsletter

The importance of copper for mitochondrial respiration and aging

“Copper is an essential component of cytochrome oxidase, which occupies the crucial final position in the mitochondrial respiratory system. Copper is a component of the cytoplasmic SOD enzyme, whose activity declines with age. Ceruloplasmin, an important copper-containing protein, helps keep iron in its safe oxidized form. Copper is involved in the production of melanin (itself an antioxidant) and elastin. The loss of melanin, elastin, and respiratory capacity so characteristic of senescence is also caused by excessive cortisol exposure.”

– 1990 – October – Ray Peats Newsletter

Caffeine's beneficial effects on the thyroid gland and inflammation

"I believe that some of caffeine's beneficial effects stem from its stimulation of the thyroid gland and normal respiration. While stimulating normal respiration, it has an anti-inflammatory effect, which likely includes both prostaglandin regulation and an antioxidant effect. Chemically, it is very similar to our natural antioxidant, uric acid, and it increases uric acid levels in the blood..."

– 1990 – May – Ray Peats Newsletter

Back to blog