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Antioxidants and Free Radicals

Antioxidants and Free Radicals are in a constant struggle with each other. If there is an excess of either, the results usually take the form of ill-health.

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent.

Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells. This is the constant battle that exists between antioxidants and free radicals. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves. As a result, antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols or polyphenols.

It's important to good health to maintain a balance between antioxidants and free radicals.

Although oxidation reactions are crucial for life, they can also be damaging; hence, plants and animals maintain complex systems of multiple types of antioxidants, such as glutathione, vitamin C, and vitamin E as well as enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase and various peroxidases.

Maintaining a balance between antioxidants and free radicals is most important these days, when you take the high level of free radical producing pollutants, insecticides and pesticides we're all daily subjected to.

Low levels of antioxidants, or inhibition of the antioxidant enzymes, causes oxidative stress and may damage or kill cells.

Problems and Solutions

Problem

As your body ages, the level of naturally occurring antioxidants decreases.

This is why there is a direct proportion between age and disease.

In other words, the older you get, the more likely you are to contract a deadly or debilitating disease. This also explains one of the reasons why you look older as your age increases.

What's the Solution?

Supplement your diet with antioxidants and also use rub on antioxidants in your skin care products. Please make sure these antioxidants can be absorbed.

Problem

Our modern diet no longer contains enough naturally occurring antioxidants even if you eat the right foods.

There are many reasons for this:

There has been a severe depletion of nutrients from our agricultural soils over the last 50 years. This has been well documented in many Government reports. Thus, fruits and vegetables grown in these soils no longer contain adequate nutrients.
Modern marketing techniques for fruit and vegetables require transport from distant growing regions to centralized retail outlets. In order to avoid damage and spoilage during transport, fruit is picked "green" and artificially ripened at the end point. This does not allow for adequate uptake and production of nutrients, minerals and antioxidants during the growth phase.
It is a scientific fact that there is rapid breakdown of antioxidants in foods after they have been harvested. Most modern "fresh" fruit and vegetables that are purchased at the supermarket are likely to be well over one week "old" and therefore have only a fraction of their original, already deficient, nutritional content.
Genetic modification of food has led to a number of changes, one of which is the rapid ripening of fruit and vegetables and shortening of the growth cycle, which in turn does not allow full uptake of minerals and development of antioxidants in your food.

Consequently our modern food is nutritionally inadequate, high in free radicals and antioxidants are deficient, as well as minerals.

Solution

For most people, the best option is to take supplements of vitamins, minerals and other antioxidants. However, you must be sure the supplements are effective because there are numerous consumer reports that many commercial supplements do not contain effective ingredients. You should also eat regular daily meals of organically grown fresh fruit and vegetables. Preferably, grow your own food and eat it soon after harvest.

It is irrefutable that taking antioxidant supplements is beneficial. Heart attacks, cancer and vascular disease have been shown to be reduced by using antioxidant supplements. Many other diseases, such as arthritis, asthma, ADD, diabetes and more, have been reported to exhibit a decrease in symptoms when they are used.

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Free Radicals

There is no doubt that the western world is being exposed to an ever-increasing free radical attack. That is what "pollution" is, and we are all aware that the world is becoming dangerously polluted. The effect of this increased free radical attack on your body is the increased rate of disease. This increase is confirmed on a daily basis in regularly published medical and scientific reports. These reports also appear in your daily newspapers and in a variety of health publications.

There are three main areas of concern:

Personal care products

skin care,
dental care, cosmetics

Household products

cleaning products, paints,
furniture, furniture glue,
carpets, plastics, insulation

Environmental

pollution, xenoestrogens

The answer to this problem is to eliminate the harmful ingredients or products that are causing you harm, or at least minimize your exposure to them and the harmful effects of free radicals by taking antioxidants.

Help Prevent Disease

As oxidative stress has been associated with the pathogenisis of many human diseases, the use of antioxidants in pharmacology is intensively studied, particularly as treatments for stroke and neurodegenerative diseases. However, it is unknown whether oxidative stress is the cause or the consequence of such diseases. This still makes the relationship between antioxidants and free radicals one of great concern.

Antioxidants are also widely used as ingredients in dietary supplements in the hope of maintaining health and preventing diseases such as cancer and coronary heart disease. Although some studies have suggested antioxidant supplements have health benefits, other clinical trials did not detect any benefit for the formulations tested, and excess supplementation may occasionally be harmful.

In addition to these uses in medicine, antioxidants have many industrial uses, such as preservatives in food and cosmetics and preventing the degradation of rubber and gasoline.

Being aware of antioxidants and free radicals in our diets is very important. We should maintain a healthy diet of organic foods high in antioxidant content. We should also supplement our diets to maintain optimal health.Not all supplements on the market are effective. It is difficult to know which formulations will give you the maximum benefits. There is, however, a "third generation" type of supplement that fulfills all the necessary requirements for complete supplementation given its proper usage.

If you'd like to find out which supplements are most beneficial for your health in maintaining a balanced diet, and also which household products are best, that don't contain potentially harmful ingredients, you'll have to give me your contact details below, so I can get back to you with all the details.