Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants

What is Oxidative Stress

By Darren Owen
From
 Integralskincare

The science of oxidative stress is taking the medical field by storm and is now the most researched topic in medicine today. Why?

 In the past decade our understanding of the molecular machinery that regulates cell behavior has expanded through novel developments in molecular biology and human genomics. Develop0ments that help us better understand cell regulatory mechanisms by which cells perceive, respond, and adapt to changes in their environments. I have a threefold rule or axiom to life that has as one of its pillars environement, and on the other, the relationship to that environment. Today, with the technological explosion of knowledge, we can no see our own internal relationship to the very cells that make up our bodies and the causes for the premature degradation of th ebody thgrough diseases, stress and aging.

Free Radicals

Oxidative stress is the damage caused to cells when there is a build up of free radicals within the body due to normal metabolic processes. Just as pile of wood burns up and produces smoke, or oxidation, so your body burns oxygen rich fuel and releases billions of free radicals in the process.

Free radicals are an unstable electrically charged atom or molecule that has only one quest, it is looking to “balance” itself out by finding a mate. Because it has an odd number of electrons, it 'must' seek to find a 'mate' which is to be found inside the healthy cells of your body. When a free radical begins this quest, it literally begins slamming into the membrane walls of healthy cells to balance. These free radicals will rapidly react to other molecules by trying to 'steal' an electron from another molecule that is more willing to give one up and it is now satisfied. however, the victim molecule is now unbalanced an has itself become a free radical. This sets off an uncontrolled chain reaction within the body that causes oxidative damage to cascade at the cellular level. Imagine billions of your cells taking 100,000 oxidative hits per day as suggested Dr. Ames, a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley and a leading researcher in oxidative stress.

This reaction is what causes cellular damage when free radicals break into the healthy cell membranes and may lead to a reaction that causes a bent chromosome which can generate a forbidden clone of cells. A forbidden clone of cells is what causes cancer.

If this oxidation is taking place in your skin, the elastic fibers begin to break down from the damage and you get wrinkles. If the oxidation occurs in the joints, pot marking of the cartilage causes arthritis. It is this oxidative damage to the cell wall membranes that are particularly susceptible to free radicals.

Cell membranes are made up of unsaturated lipids and can breakdown and harden under oxidative stress. It then becomes impossible for the cell to maintain its cellular activities of getting nutrients and signals from other cells to perform operative functions within the body. To better understand this, imagine that every cell in your body is like a house that needs to take in nutrients in and get rid of the waste by products. Failure to take in or rid the cells of energy or entropy will lead to a chemical imbalance and degeneration. Because cells communicate bio-chemically with other cells, anything that interfers with this communication results in ibalance and cause stress to the body. Extensive damage accumulates over time causing a disruption in cellular function leading to cell death and aging and disease. Thus oxidative stress has been associated with the pathogenesis of many human diseases.

This stress can be caused by many factors, but what we now know is that oxidative stress is a key to this process. A process that can be increased further by lifestyle choices such as environmental and lifestyle factors of sun radiation, air pollution, smoking, dehydration, alcohol, lack of exercise, stress and poor nutrition.

Antioxidants to the Rescue

Pomegranates

Researchers have found the antioxidant level in pomegranate juice was higher than
that found in other fruit juices, including blueberry, cranberry,  and even red wine.

To reduce this pathway to aging, cancer and disease antioxidants can be introduced in the body in various ways to help reduce this imbalance and alleviate the stress upon the body at the molecular level. An Antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules.

One of the best ways to appreciate this is imagine a camp fire where heat, smoke and sparks are rising out of the energy release of the wood. Just as your body must metabolize food and maintain a body temperature of 98.8 degrees while chemical reactions occur at the cellular level. A process that is the basis of life allowing cells to grow, reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. So too in the body, free radicals produce what is like smoke and sparks of the campfire in the body. To help the body heal itself, Antioxidants can be introduced to help reduce the free radicals and ease the oxidative stress.

Today antioxidants are all the rage with pomegranate juice now found everywhere or the Acacia MLM that your friends are asking you to join. There are many antioxidants on the market that are available with coenzyme Q10 showing much promise.

Antioxidant Rich Raw Fruits and Vegetables

By far the most researched and most accepted method of combating oxidative stress is eating 7 to 11 servings a day of raw fruits and vegetables.

For many years the National Institute of Health, the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and every other national health association has emphasized the importance of eating raw fruits and vegetables every day. Antioxidants rich foods protect against damage to cells caused by free radicals.

What is important to note however is that in order to receive the active nutrients within the foods,  they must be eaten raw. What is often not discussed is that heat destroys the enzymes, fibers and other active nutrients within the raw foods. hence the catch 22. How many people really eat 7 to 11 servings a day, let alone raw servings?

The real question is whether or not you feel you are getting enough antioxidants in your diet and if not, should I be taking supplements? As Dr. Ray Strand, M.D. writes,

“Living a healthy life becomes a matter of balance. You must have enough antioxidants available to readily neutralize the number of free radicals your body produces. If you don't, “oxidative stress” will occur. When this oxidative stress is allowed to persist over a prolonged period of time, you will most likely develop a serious chronic degenerative disease.

Since balance is the key, we need to look closely at the individual players that are at war within. The number of free radicals you produce each and every day is never the same. All the pollutants in our air, food, and water dramatically increase the number of free radicals we produce. Enormous stress, excessive exercise, cigarette smoke, sunlight, radiation, and every drug prescribed greatly increase the number of free radicals produced in the body. In fact, there has never been a generation on this planet subjected to more oxidative stress than this present one. We are literally under attack from our polluted environment, stressful lifestyles, and over-medicated society.”