Get Plenty Of Antioxidants Into Your Diet! -
Free radicals are those dastardly minute invaders that can eventually kill you when left unchecked to run rampant throughout your system. They come from all those things that are not healthy for you like too much sun exposure, pollutants n the air and they also occur naturally within us. Free radicals must be counteracted and that is where the body’s tiny superheroes come into play – antioxidants! Let us learn more about antioxidants, why they are so necessary and why we need so many in our system.
Cellular respiration happens when our body turns glucose to water and carbon dioxide or CO², and energy is discharged. The mitochondria are where this takes place in the far recesses of cells, it is known as the generator for energy from cells. As this occurs, another form of energy known as electrons go through an intricate chemical process that at some point will create a warehouse of energy called the adenosine triphosphate or [ATP].
As the electron process continues to move along, certain chemicals release electrons, which is oxidation occurring and some substances take in electrons, known a reduction. The continuous procedure of reduction-oxidation or [redox] is the cellular respiration occurring. The energy left in storage as the ATP energy and is used to power our bodies in whatever we ask them to do for us.
Problems begin to occur when the electrons run amok from the normal process and take up with the surrounding oxygen and this creates toxic oxygen free radicals. Unbalanced and belligerent, these radicals mix with other molecules within the cell structure and the result is a flurry of damage occurring to anything in the immediate region. This could be the cell membrane, important enzyme or proteins within the cell itself. Worse still, it could be the cell DNA that is in the line of fire.
Anti oxidants contribute an electron to eradicate and kill free radicals. The antioxidant perishes for the cause of a healthy you. We need to keep our supply of antioxidants topped off so the tiny defenders have enough reserve to keep up the good fight. Our body itself supplies a tremendous army of antioxidants but we need to replenish our stock from outside sources as well through diet. As we age, our innate antioxidant facility begins to disappear and diet becomes critical for our aging bodies to fight off free radical damage.
When the oxidation process becomes too much for our aging natural store of antioxidants to combat, the harmful damage begins in earnest and brings with it age associated diseases and rapid aging.
Antioxidants such as super oxide dismutase [SOD], glutathione and n-acetyl cysteine [NAC] are created naturally inside our bodies. Other antioxidants need to come from our diets in the form of vitamins like A, C, E and bioflavonoids from veggies and fruit. Minerals including selenium, manganese, copper and zinc, though they are not in the antioxidant family, make up a critical component within the system.
It is important to remember that antioxidants perform their duty in various parts of our body. For instance, CoEnzyme Q labors within the deep mitochondria aiding in the transference of electrons. Vitamin E and pomegranate are both which are enamored by fats and do well laboring in fatty regions of the system like the cell walls and cholesterol build up. Vitamin C and glutathione favor water and labor where there is any fluid within the cell structure.
Antioxidants also operate in unique fashions. CoQ is an antioxidant but it can regenerate vitamin E. Alpha lipoic acid will redevelop vitamin C, which will then restore vitamin E. Vitamins C and E as well as selenium aid vitamin A to work in a proper manner.
Obviously by the amount of interrelated activity among the antioxidants displays a critical element in supplementation and that is these compounds have a combined work ethic. Making sure you take in a wide range of nutrients such as those discovered innately, becomes a vital component of supplementation.
Numerous research evaluations concerning antioxidants are shy on details and restricted by appraising merely a lone antioxidant while never taking into account its natural role. For instance, taking just a single element of the eight vitamin E’s, we understand will be depleting one of the other varieties and will impact negatively and possibly circumvent any good advantages from supplementing only one type.
An alternate case in point comes from a more current study that proved vitamin A supplementation increased the chance of lung cancer in smokers – and no consideration for the potential effects of finishing off the other co factors along with vitamin A such as Vitamin C, E and selenium. Had the researchers included these supplementation co factors in their study and evaluation, the consequences of the evaluation might have been vastly different.
Nutrition is our first line of defensive medicine but this on its own cannot sustain the majority of us and thus we must utilize supplements. This has been a description of the way oxidation works within your body and it clearly displays the principal role it plays in how we age and wind up contracting serious age related diseases. When we realize that oxidation is a much more multifaceted procedure than just a singular variety of antioxidant can defend against, we can appreciate how important taking an extensive array of antioxidants becomes utterly significant.
Tue, Dec 8, 2009
Anti Aging, Bioscience, Health And Aging