Free radicals and their impact on health and antioxidant defenses: a review

Nisansala Chandimali; Seon Gyeong Bak; Eun Hyun Park; Hyung Jin Lim; Yeong‐Seon Won

doi:10.1038/s41420-024-02278-8

Free radicals and their impact on health and antioxidant defenses: a review

Nisansala Chandimali, Seon Gyeong Bak, Eun Hyun Park, Hyung Jin Lim, Yeong‐Seon Won, Eun‐Kyung Kim, Sang‐Ik Park, Seung‐Jae Lee

Springer Nature (2025) • Volume 11, Issue 1, Pages 19-19

SynthesisNarrativeReviewPDF AvailableGrade Eligible⚠️ Moderate Risk Flags

Overall Assessment

Weak Methodological Quality

Assessment created by PaperScorers Medical AI v0.1.0 on Dec 15, 2025

D-

37/100

Key Takeaways

•Narrative review linking oxidative stress to major chronic diseases.
•Summarises ROS/RNS sources, mechanisms, and biomarkers (MDA, 4-HNE, 8-OHdG).
•Highlights endogenous and dietary antioxidants; phenolics emphasised.
•Notes risks of high-dose antioxidant supplementation and therapy context.
•Calls for biomarker-driven, personalised antioxidant strategies.

Conclusion

Useful high-level synthesis; not systematic and no quantitative evidence grading.

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Quality Dimensions

Bias & Integrity

COI handling, outcome switching, selective reporting

D45

Methods Rigour

Protocol clarity, sampling, controls

F18

External Validity

Generalisability, setting, population

D+50

Transparency & Reproducibility

Data/code/materials availability, preregistration

D-30

Significance & Novelty

Contribution vs prior art; context if known

C-55

Statistical Validity

Models, assumptions, multiplicity, CI priority

F18

Integrity & Transparency

Integrity checks

P-hacking risk?

?

None suspected

Signs of selective hypothesis testing or analysis choices that could inflate false positive rates.

Outcome switching?

?

Review recommended

Evidence that primary outcomes were changed during or after the study, potentially distorting results.

Conflict of interest?

?

None suspected

Authors have financial or other relationships that could bias research findings.

Data integrity issues?

?

None suspected

Concerns about the accuracy, completeness, or authenticity of the reported data.

Open science signals

Research data

?

Not applicable

Raw data used in the analyses is publicly available or accessible upon request.

Analysis code

?

Not applicable

Code or scripts used to analyze the data are shared for reproducibility.

Study materials

?

Not applicable

Protocols, questionnaires, and other materials are publicly available.

Premise

Primary Research Question

Summarise characteristics, sources, mechanisms and disease impacts of free radicals; review natural antioxidant compounds.

Hypothesis is Falsifiable

—Not specified

Narrative review; no testable hypothesis.

PICO Framework

Population—Not specified

No study population; narrative review.

Intervention—Not specified

No intervention study.

Comparison—Not specified

No comparator; descriptive synthesis.

Outcome—Not specified

No prespecified outcomes.

Literature Positioning

Literature Review Balanced

Well covered

Broad coverage across CVD, cancer, neuro, autoimmune, diabetes with many citations.

Evidence: Table 2; sections on CVD/Cancer/Autoimmune/Neuro/Diabetes

Research Gap Clearly Stated

Well covered

Explicit open questions and future directions listed.

Evidence: OPEN QUESTIONS (p.1); Fig. 2

Stated Contribution Clear

Well covered

Abstract/intro: overview of radicals, impacts, and natural antioxidants.

Evidence: Abstract & Introduction (p.1–2)

Study Provenance

Peer reviewed venueGrant funding disclosedNo conflicts declared6 affiliations listed

Authors & Affiliations

KRIBB (Jeongeup, Daejeon), Chonnam National Univ, Scripps Korea Antibody Institute, Honam Nat'l Inst Biological Resource, Dong-A Univ (Korea).

Funding Statement

KRIBB Research Initiative Program (KGM5242423); NRF RIS (2021RIS-002); NRF grants NRF-2022R1A2C1011742 & NRF-2022R1A6A3A01087055.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer Review

✓Cell Death Discovery (Springer Nature) peer-reviewed journal.

Evidence: p. 1 masthead

Methodological Assessment

All design modules are marked as not applicable. Use the accordion below to review their details.

Modules without applicable checklist items (10)

These designs were fully marked as not applicable but remain available for reference.

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Study Overview

Study Design

Narrative Review

Primary classification used to evaluate this research.

Population

Not applicable (narrative review; no defined participants).

Brief summary of who or what was studied.

Pre-registration

Not registered

Indicates whether the protocol or trial was registered before data collection.

Reviewer Notes

Narrative review; no systematic search, selection, or meta-analysis reported.

Publication Details

DOI

10.1038/s41420-024-02278-8

Published

January 24, 2025

Citations

228 citations

FWCI

503.22

External Resources

DOI Link OpenAlex

Disclaimer: This assessment is generated by AI and should not be the sole basis for clinical or research decisions. Always review the original paper and consult with domain experts.

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