Numerous conditions, including cancer, diabetes, aging, and atherosclerosis, are thought to be associated with oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is defined as a persistent imbalance between oxidation and antioxidation, resulting in the damage of cellular macromolecules and is often considered to be involved in wide variety of human diseases. However, the current literature is very heterogeneous making it rather difficult to draw general conclusions. Often, different biomarkers have been used in different health problems. In addition, individual biomarkers are often measured using nonspecific methods. The development of informative and highly reliable markers is very important. The conflicting results of numerous studies, including clinical trials, make it clear that despite the explosion of studies performed in the last decades, leading to nutritional guidelines recommending consumption of food-related antioxidants, direct proof is still lacking.

b Department of Bioenergetics Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czech Republic

c Department of Pathology University of Louisville Louisville KY USA

Center for Research on Diabetes Metabolism and Nutrition 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Prague Czech Republic

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