Free Radicals

What are Free Radicals and are they harmful?

• Sometimes called oxygen radicals, they are atoms or molecules with at least one unpaired electron. This imbalance causes their highly reactive nature.
• They are formed during oxidation (the process of using oxygen during normal metabolism within the cell to create energy) and during the process of reducing molecular oxygen to water.
• Unless quickly neutralized by an antioxidant, they may go on to create more oxygen radicals or damage the cell membrane, vessel wall or even the DNA nucleus of the cell.

What is Oxidative Stress

Oxidative stress is the rusting and decaying of our bodies from within by oxygen. It is at the heart of almost all known chronic degenerative disease.

Dr Ray Strand, author of What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You explains it this way.

'Whichever part of the body receives the most free radical damage is the first to wear out and potentially develop degenerative disease'.

Oxidative stress is what makes us susceptible to cancer, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue, and age-related diseases .

In his book, Dr Strand names seven sources of the rusting effect of oxygen on our bodies:

1. Over-exercise
2. Excessive stress
3. Ultraviolet sunlight
4. Medications and radiation
5. Food and water pollution
6. Air pollution
7. Cigarette smoke

While some of these body rusters are avoidable with conscientious effort, others are outside our control.

Thankfully, there is some good news.

Our bodies already possess a natural defense weapon in the fight against the harmful effects of oxidative stress:Antioxidants. An antioxidant has the unique ability to give up an electron to an oxygen radical, thus neutralizing it.

How amazing is that!

Antioxidants are produced partly by metabolic processes in the body, and are also obtainable through a healthy, nutritionally balanced diet and quality nutritional health supplements.



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