Antioxidants and Free Radicals

Antioxidants and Free Radicals

Peak Energy Science FYI:

Dr. Robert Marshall, PhD, CCN, in his paper, “The Overlooked Role of Chronic Infection in Neurodegeneration and its Reversal Using Nutraceutical Agents” writes:

All tissues of the human body are susceptible to degeneration. The process is called neurodegeneration. The number of lives affected by neurodegeneration is currently the highest in U.S. history and can ultimately be a source of major physical and mental debilitation for many Americans. For many, it is the difference between continuing a good quality of life or gradual loss of function. This process of neurodegeneration begins at the cellular level where oxidative stress relentlessly inflicts cell damage and death. The main force causing this destruction at the cellular level is known as “free radicals.”

In every cell of the body, both the cell nucleus and the mitochondrial DNA are vulnerable to free radical damage. However, the cells can be protected from this vulnerability with targeted nutraceutical agents.

Infection or trauma can initiate the inflammatory process. The process of inflammation can increase free radical activity. When unresolved inflammation becomes chronic, high levels of free radicals are constantly being generated. This eventually results in cell death. This degenerative process can feed upon itself, destroying massive amounts of cells. It is pause for thought to realize that key antioxidants can stop this destruction. The process of chronic illness may commence with symptoms such as fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression, or memory problems. All these conditions may improve by boosting the quality and quantity of nutrient uptake.

DHLA (dihydrolipoic acid) is capable of regenerating the vitamin C moleculewhich can then provide the broadest spectrum of antioxidant protection.
Nutrients such as resveratrol, green tea and the B vitamins combined together can promote the most effective antioxidant protection.

Free radicals are becoming a runaway freight train fueled by chronic infection.
Providing healing nutraceutical agents to repair the DNA of the cellsthat are infected is the only real answer.

What are “Free Radicals”?

Free radicals are oxygen molecules or atoms that have at least one unpaired electron in their outer orbit. In the process of using oxygen during normal metabolism within the cell to create energy (called oxidation), free oxygen radicals are created. These free radicals have such violent movement they have been shown chemically to create bursts of light within the body. If these free radicals are not neutralized rapidly, they create more volatile free radicals and cause damage to the vessel wall, cell wall, lipids, proteins, and even the DNA nucleus of the cell.

Chronic degenerative diseases are not diseases of old age. Their beginnings are evident in children, teens, and young adults. Oxidative stress, resulting from free radical damage, is the underlying cause of most all of these chronic diseases. This includes coronary artery disease, cancer, stroke, arthritis, and diabetes.

How do we protect ourselves from free radicals?

Fortunately, our Creator has given us antioxidants. Antioxidants have the ability to render free radicals harmless. As long as there are adequate amounts of antioxidants within our bodies to handle the free radicals produced within the cell, there is no damage to the surrounding tissues. However, the body is not able to produce enough of the antioxidants on its own to neutralize all of the free radicals. Antioxidants must also come from the nutrients that we take into our bodies. There is a support system behind the struggle to win this war. In order for antioxidants to do their job, there must be adequate amounts of all the B vitamins, which are co-factors for the antioxidants.

Many consumers take handfuls of antioxidants, but without the B vitamins,the antioxidants lose their power to handle all the free radicals produced in the body.

In his book, The Antioxidant Revolution, Dr. Kenneth Cooper emphasizes that excessive exercise is a major cause of oxidative stress leading to the development of free radicals.

Adding to the problem of free radicals are the challenges of excessive stress, pollutants in our air, food, and water, cigarette smoke, excessive sunlight, synthetic prescription drugs, radiation, and fatty foods. But once again, antioxidants have been shown to combat the above health challenges. In fact, antioxidants have been proven to decrease the oxidative stress in smokers and eliminate the bad effects of fatty meals.

The body God has given us has a great ability to heal itselfif we provide the nutritional building blocks. The body must haveenough antioxidants available to handle all the free radicals.

Poor Dietary Habits

Unfortunately, because of terrible dietary habits rooted in processed, packaged, convenient, and ready to eat “foods” our level of oxidative stress is causing degenerative disease in epidemic proportions. The average American (all ages) drinks 1.5 cans of soda pop per day, and on average, consumes 40 teaspoons of refined sugars per capita per day!

A Wellness Revolution is under way in our medical institutions!

Duke, Harvard, Georgetown, Columbia, The University of Arizona, and UC San Francisco have all begun to move their medical departments in the direction of nutritional medicine.

Professors at these and other medical schools are now teaching that antioxidants hold the key to reversing the chronic disease epidemic facing America.

Jeffrey Bland, Phd, CNS, FACN, Chairman for the Institute for Functional Medicine, Gig Harbor, Washington, writes in JANA, 2003 Spring. “Chronic diseases originate from an inflammatory process involving oxidative stress. The antioxidant status of the individual is of importance in both the prevention and treatment of disease.”

The same JANA issue quotes Mark Houston, MD, who has authored one of the most definitive papers pointing out the role antioxidants play in both prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, the number one killer in America today.

Denham Harman, MD, PhD, founder of the American Aging Association, is best known for developing the “free radical theory of aging.” Dr. Harmon published his findings in a dietary antioxidant study in 1968, offering the first proof that dietary antioxidants can increase the life span of mice almost equal to the effects of caloric restriction. He discovered that mitochondrial decay in the cells plays a large role in aging and that the antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid can reverse this decay to levels found in young animals.

Writing in the Journal of Gerontology, 1956, Harman was one of the first in the medical field to state that inflammatory agents are believed to contribute to heart disease and cancers, and that the primary initiating event in atherosclerosis was the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Harman predicted that antioxidants could slow or prevent LDL oxidation. This is now accepted as fact. Today we know that antioxidants in DHLA, the pure form of ALA, resveratrol, and green tea, all working with the co-factors of vitamin B can indeed slow down the process of LDL, and other oxidation, and prevent free radical damage to the cells.

Now libraries are full of empirical research evidence showing the destructive effects of free radicals on biological tissues and the protection of those tissues by antioxidants. It is now believed, with a sound scientific basis, that antioxidants can significantly extend the average life span of mammals, including humans.

Dr. David Williams, author of Alternatives, writes: “Free radical damage is now recognized as the greatest contributor to most health problems. By limiting the activity of free radicals, antioxidants protect cells and their components from this damage, thereby lessening the risk of cancer, heart disease, vision problems and other diseases.”

Free Radical Reduction and Antioxidant Levels in Food

Research shows that the United States has experienced a 50% reduction in the antioxidant content of our food over the last 25 years. Therefore, it is impractical to assume that all the body’s antioxidant needs can be met by consuming typical foods. The best strategy is to supplement the diet with nontoxic antioxidant nutraceutical agents that are 100% PURE FOOD to ensure above average nutrient levels for the best protection against the destructive power of free radicals.

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Yours in Good Health,

Lewis Jacksonrabbitjax@comcast.net