The Great Unknowns of Space Radiation

I was juslistening to an interview with a Nasa flight surgeon.

Apparently one in six Apollo astronauts developed cataracts which is a fairly high rate.

I am not sure it's that unusual. One in six is about 17%...which is identical to the general population (non-astronauts). The incidence is somewhere around 17% for those over 40, and by the time folks are 80 years old, more than half of them will have cataracts.

What might be unusual, is the age with which the astronauts got them, and how soon after going into space.

I'm a first year chemistry student at the University of Cincinnati. I was thinking about this particular thread in class today while in chem lecture. I was thinking about doing an undergraduate research project for the past couple weeks. I think I might do that on anti-oxidants and their impact on free radicals in the body. I realize studies like this have been done before, but my intended goal with this study would be to synthesize a supplement with primarily that anti-oxidant. My school is a well known research university in chemistry.

I'm curious of any comments or criticisms that you all might have of that idea.