After it had become evident some decades ago that free radicals cause oxidative stress, their involvement in many diseases started to be investigated. In a tropical and rapidly developing country as Indonesia, it is not only the classical infectious viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases which cause oxygen burst during the activation of the cellular defense system of the body. Cardiovascular, degenerative, and metabolic diseases like atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, etc., which are on the increase, and cancer appear to be correlated with free radicals. Furthermore, other diseases prevalent in Indonesia are supposed to be related with oxidative stress as well, e.g. thalassemia and preeclampsia. Oxidative stress is counteracted by a network of antioxidative enzyms and nonenzymic antioxidants, the latter mostly being components of nutrition (micronutrients), of vegetables and fruits, often vitamins, especially C and E, but also vitamin A and its precursor, beta-carotene and other carotenoids. Indonesia is rich in plants and herbs containing pharmacologically active compounds, many of which are potent antioxidants, e.g. curcumins. Furthermore, macronutritients may exert antioxidant properties, such as the soy bean fermentation product tempe, and are certainly important for the prevention and possibly also the therapy of diseases, which are related to free radicals and oxidative stress.
With essays by Philippa Darbre, Barbara Deisinger, Hans-Joachim Freisleben, Rainer Gross, Maria A. Livrea, Kalanithi Nesaretnam, Benjamin Widjadjakusuma, Guido Zimmer.