Very interesting Bigg... but isn't this the same function of L-carnitine to the muscle cell and red blood cell too.
Well, they are similar only by name, bacause both these supplements are calles antioxidants. And virtually every supplement there is, is called this way.
Take for example vitamin C and IP-6. They are both antioxidants, but does this mean that they work in the same way? Not at all. Vitamin C is a direct antioxidant and IP-6 is indirect antioxidant, because it chelates iron, which then will not be able to catalyze ROS production. What is more important for thals is that vitamin C increases iron absorption, and IP-6 chelates iron. So in the end it's not the antioxidant properties that matter, but the other properties.
What also matters is the way these antioxidants work - one works in one way, the other works in another way and in anotrher place within the cell (erythrocyte for that matter). Every new antioxidant can potentially be the one that does a really good job of geting rid of ROS in erythrocytes, resulting in longer lifespan.
Recently I discovered that magnesium is like the best (as of now) antioxidant for erythrocytes, because it catalyzes superoxide dismutase recovery - and it's still antioxidant but not direct.
About magnesium and erythrocytes, here for example:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17536123And creatine is said to improve production of glutathione, so it also has indirect antioxidant properties:
http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net/creatine_newsletter_31.htmlI don't know if all this info on creatine applies to erythrocytes, but it's worth considering.