Antioxidants feature quite highly in the current IB Chemistry programme - particularly in Option F - Food Chemistry. Assessment statement F. 8.1 covers how antioxidants work and stresses the importance of the phenol group in the free radical inhibition by antioxidant molecules such as BHA, BHT, TBHQ and tocopherols. However in the new programme for first examination in 2016 they are virtually absent.

Perhaps this is just as well as recent research casts considerable doubt on the ability of the polyphenol resveratrol to reduce the incidences of heart attacks and cancers. Resveratrol is present in red wine, certain berries and in chocolate and tradition has it that drinking red wine in moderation is good for your health. This may still be true but it is not because it contains resveratrol. Researchers at John Hopkins University have made a study of people living in the Chianti region of Italy. In their report published in JAMA Internal Medicine they found that Italians who consume lots of resveratrol don’t outlive those who ingest smaller amounts and are just as likely to develop cardiovascular disease or cancer.

Although there do seem to be health benefits from drinking red wine these benefits may be due to other antioxidants compounds contained in the wine - but they are not due to resveratrol. This may come as a disappointment to those health shops that make considerable profits from selling resveratrol to people who think that taking extra resveratrol is good for their health.