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Antioxidants are compounds that play a variety of roles in the
body. One of their most important jobs is to limit the damage
caused by free radicals, unstable particles that can cause
inflammation and injure cells throughout the body. People who
are critically ill—from traumatic injuries or body-wide
infection, for example—are in a state of free radical overload.
To help the body deal with these crises, the body produces an
abundance of free radicals but too many can harm many tissues
and organs. Several studies have looked at using antioxidants to
help offset the effects of free radical–damage in critically ill
people. Most of the studies have been small, though, so a group
of investigators conducted a review of the trials to see if any
patterns emerged. The results from 21 studies were included in
the analysis. The researchers looked at the effects of
antioxidants such as selenium, zinc, c