FOR Newcastle professor Mark Birch-Machin, it’s a bit like a game of Pacman. Except this time, he’s on the opposite side.

He’s looking into the tussle between the gobbling free radicals in the human body, and the antioxidants that work against them. And he’s co-founded a company which aims to let customers know what foods they should eat to tip that balance.

Powerhouse Biologics is a joint venture with Dr Georg Lietz, which pools high-level research born out of Newcastle University. The company recently benefited from funding from Northstar Ventures, and has set out to analyse an individual’s genetic make-up to discover which antioxidants are most effective for them.

“We’ve got the building blocks, which we’ve worked up through years of experience”. says Birch-Machin. “There’s enough background science there to convince us and Northstar that the Proof of Concept should work.

“But the idea is to do some proper research which will allow us to modify the plan, and go on to the next round of funding when the Proof of Concept runs out in 12 months.”

Within the next few years, Powerhouse hopes to have a testing kit on the high street, as well as a service for large companies testing the effectiveness of such antioxidants.

The term “antioxidant” has been known to slip out of the mouths of the public occasionally, usually when they’re discussing adverts for anti-ageing skin cream. But the idea behind Powerhouse is to point out that your body processes some better than others.

“When you’re offering advice, it’s important not to tell people what to do because they don’t like it”, says Birch-Machin. “We’re merely saying we’re not all the same at processing food, and we’re looking at which antioxidants – or which combination of antioxidants – is most potent for an individual.”

You can find anti-oxidants in a variety of foods. For example, curcumin can be found in the Indian spice turmeric, while selenium is in foods such as Brazil nuts, tuna and eggs. Carotenoids are located in broccoli, spinach and apricots among others, while polyphenols are in a range of grub such as apples, pears, cranberries and chocolate. These are used to combat free radicals – unpaired electrons linked to factors such as sunlight, diet and pollution which can be damaging to cells.