antioxidants
Sunday, May 12, 2002
ANTIOXIDANTS
Antioxidants are vitamins and minerals which help the body to get rid of free radicals. Free radicals constantly seek out healthy cells and attack their vulnerable outer membranes eventually causing cellular degeneration and death. Normal molecules in the body have two electrons (a paired group) in their outer shell. A molecule with a single electron (unpaired) in its outer shell is called a free radical.
Free radicals cause damage to cell membranes and may be the cause of most of the conditions associated with aging. A healthy cell in the body has a mortal enemy called a "free radical." Free radicals occur naturally when oxygen in the bloodstream combine with any of a diverse group of chemicals including those commonly found in polluted air, in primary and/or second hand cigarette smoke, in known chemical toxins; as well as, in food additives and in re-heated cooking oil. Antioxidants are substances which retard the oxidative changes (rancidity) in fats and oils, e.g. tocopherols (Vitamin E).
Intense and/or aerobic exercise causes heavy oxygen demand. Free radicals are created when more oxygen is used by the body. The cell membranes lose their ability to pass nutrients into the cell and they can not effectively excrete the cellular waste products. Free radicals, scientists know today, carry out the actual destructive work in disease, in infection, in stress and in aging. Further, free radicals are known to cause defects in normal RNA as well as in life perpetuating DNA, the genetic material of the cells.
Additionally, free radical production and damage is accelerated by the normal radiation found in sunlight and by increasing exercise, especially running and other aerobic activities. This is easy to understand in that aerobic exercise can increase oxygen consumption ten to twenty times normal values. With more oxygen available in the bloodstream; free radical production soars.In order to properly break down free oxygen radicals into harmless elements you need over 20 vitamins, minerals, flavones, pyrocyanidins, etc., combined in the proper ratio to fully realize the full health benefits.
A good anti-oxidant complex should have a variety of powerful individual anti-oxidants including Vitamins A, C and E, the minerals Zinc and Selenium, the amino acid N-Acetyl-Cysteine and natural plant extracts of Grape Skin, Bilberry and Green Tea. Antioxidants work by either taking or giving an electron to the free oxygen radical. This changes the free oxygen radical into a different free radical which is then given another electron to further change it eventually into something harmless.
A good anti-oxidant complex supplement actually has advantages over diet sources in that the complex has many different specific types of anti-oxidants which seek out and destroy free radicals at many various cellular sites. A single anti-oxidant, for example Vitamin E, only protects the outer fatty layers of the cell. It will not stabilize DNA which, for example, is one of the main effects of the anti-oxidant Vitamin C.
"Anti-oxidant synergy" is the process by which different anti-oxidants disperse through the bloodstream to protect the cells at different sites. When a specific anti-oxidant meets a free radical in the bloodstream at its appropriate activity site, it naturally combines with it and converts the free radical to harmless water and oxygen. The destructive effects of free radicals can be prevented with the addition of anti-oxidants in the diet or by anti-oxidant supplements. As a result of anti-oxidant increases by supplementation of higher amounts of a greater variety of anti-oxidants, cellular damage lessens and performance and health improves.
G.R. Krishnamurthy
