Ok, in case you don't know, an antioxidant is something found in many plants that combats dangerous free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that are missing an oxygen atom and so they steal oxygen from whatever molecules they can find---this includes protiens, cellular DNA, etc. It is easy to see why antioxidants are important, and the free radical theory is widely accepted as the main cause of aging. Luckily our bodies make free radicals, but our bodies produce less over time ... A phytonutrient is some type of compund found in a specific plant that is beneficial to our health. There are thousands of them and science has not pinned them all out. Some popular ones you may have heard of are "reservatrol," which is found in grapes (and wine). This is the reason behind the hype of "a glass of red wine a day" recently. To get back to the point: It's pretty easy to taste the difference between a fresh, homegrown tomatoe and a commercial tomatoe that was picked too ripe and has been sitting in storage for five days. One has more phytonutrients and more antioxidants in it than the other. I suspect that commercial fertilizers and preservation techniques also reduce the antioxidants in the fruit. Not to mention the trend in decreasing nutritional values of commercial grown food over the years (probably due to soil?) The reason I brought this up is to address this question: Does an increased ammount of antioxidants and phytonutrients help marijuana in any way? It is obvious that food has more nutrition and a more potent taste when they are higher, but how does this translate for weed? We don't actually eat the weed, however, there may be other benefits that should not be overlooked. I'm new at growing (anything) but maybe more antioxidants in the plant could help shorten the growing time and protect it from disease and pests, like this guy says: "Sea kelp for garden plants Another item I'm excited about is the research I'm conducting on the use of sea kelp on garden plants, and how this impacts human health when people eat foods right out of their garden. Preliminary research is showing that when plants are treated with sea kelp, in powdered or liquid concentrate form, they produce fruits and vegetables with much higher levels of antioxidants and phytochemicals. These plants are also more resistant to disease and pests, and they produce larger yields. But even more interesting, when human beings consume these fruits and vegetables, they receive additional health benefits, such as enhanced immune system function, that would not be available if they were eating plants that were not treated with sea kelp. Sea kelp is something that's quite inexpensive to use, and it seems to offer tremendous benefits to the home gardener. And since I'm a person who always recommends that people grow their own food and eat it right out of the garden as much as they can, sea kelp is certainly going to be one of the top nutritional supplements for plants that I'm going to be covering in future articles. " http://www.newstarget.com/007732.html And no, he wasn't selling any products nor does he get paid by the product makers to review it. Comments? This could be interesting if my theory is correct