Free Radicals And Disease
The Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz corroded because of oxidation. We’re suffering much worse damage because of oxidative stress, and we need something other than an oil can to fix it!
You know what oxidation does to a piece of metal . . corrosion and rust! Our bodies are under the same sort of stress. Even though oxygen is critical for life, it may produce damaging by-products during normal cellular metabolism. These by-products are called free radicals.
The oxidation process is essential, but it produces free radicals, oxidized molecules that are short of electrons. These molecules are unstable and agitated. They remain unstable and short of electrons until they seize new electrons to replace the missing ones. They prowl through our bodies taking electrons from our cells, even our most vital ones like electron-rich DNA.
When free radicals rob electrons away from our DNA it no longer functions properly. DNA holds our genetic information and regulates the reproduction of all new cells, including the cells in our organs, heart, brain and other tissues which are vital to our health.
Left uncontrolled, free radicals may cause in excess of 50 health problems including mutation of new cells; damage to vision; accelerated aging of skin, organs, and bones; damage to heart and blood vessels; damage to the nervous system and brain cells; enzyme malfunction; cancer; and a weak immune system.
Several things ramp up our metabolic activity and consequently increase our body’s generation of free radicals:
- Strenuous physical activity
- Mental stress, depression, and recurring anxiety
- Toxic industrial chemicals in our water, air, food, and beverages
Our blood streams contain 300 – 500 toxins, most that didn’t exist prior to World War II. This is regardless of what section of the country we live in. One researcher tested people around the U.S. and found that 100% of the persons tested had 100% of the toxins tested for.
Our drinking water has been infiltrated by agricultural fertilizer runoff, medicines flushed down our commodes, and industrial pollution.
Perhaps the most reliable way to protect ourselves from free radical damage is by consuming foods high in antioxidants. Antioxidants easily give up their electrons to “hungry” free radicals that are electron deficient. The way that antioxidants work is that they either bind to the free radicals and change them into harmless compounds or by repairing cellular damage.
Antioxidants found in food include vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and the carotenoids. Our bodies can also produce antioxidants. However, the antioxidant content of our modern diet has been sharply decreased due to soil depletion, “green harvesting”, and modern farming methods. Any antioxidant nutrients in fruits and vegetables that survive our modern-day growth and harvesting methods then suffer due to the cooking, processing, preserving, and packaging common today.
Therefore to ensure antioxidant protection it is essential to eat foods high in antioxidants and to include a reliable antioxidant supplement in our daily diet. This pdf document, A comparative list of antioxidants, shows the free radical protection provided by each of 91 different antioxidant products based on their ORACo value. ORAC is an acronym for Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity. The original ORAC assay was a measurement for only water-soluble antioxidant activity. ORACo assays both fat and water-soluble antioxidant activity.