Oxidative Stress

Oxidative Stress
Health Concepts, PO Box 9226, Rapid City, SD 57709
http://www.bionutrition.org/oxidative-stress.asp

Even though the average life expectancy in the United States hasincreased dramatically during this past century, our quality of lifedue to chronic degenerative disease has taken a major hit. We areessentially "living too short and dying too long".

Most of us cansimply look forward to suffering and dying from heart disease,cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's dementia, Parkinson's disease,arthritis, macular degeneration, and the list goes on and on, unlesswe literally attack the underlying cause of All of these diseases—oxidative stress.How long do you expect to live? Now envision what your last twentyyears will look like. I can assure you my patients today are not asconcerned with the number of years in their lives as they are thequality of life in those years.

Who wants to live to a ripe old ageif he or she cannot even recognize close family members because ofAlzheimer's dementia? Who looks forward to a decade or two ofsuffering severe joint or back pain due to degenerative arthritis?One of my close friends told me recently that he simply wants tolive until he dies. Is this your desire? It certainly is mine. Thatis why I recommend preventative rather than post-problem medicine—empowering people to avoid getting major diseases in the firstplace.

Over the past seven years, I have changed my approach. I nowstrongly encourage and support my patients in taking a three-foldapproach to health: eating well, practicing a consistent exerciseprogram, and daily consuming high-quality nutritional supplements.

I now use medication as a last resort—not as my first choice.Do you fear growing old? Have you accepted chronic disease or painas a given in your future? Are you willing to make necessary lifechanges to ensure your health? I believe a full and abundantphysical life does not need to start slipping away at age forty.Each year of your life can be your very best. But first you mustunderstand the war that is waging within every one of our bodies.

Oxygen is essential for life itself. But did you know it is alsoinherently dangerous to our existence? I call this the "dark side"of oxygen. And as a result, we are essentially rusting both insideand out. The same process that causes a cut apple to turn brown oriron to rust is the cause of all the chronic degenerative diseaseswe fear and even the aging process itself.Consider the aging of our skin. Oxidative stress is the cause ofwrinkles, sagging skin, and age spots.

The next time you are with alarge gathering of people of different ages, observe closely thechange you see in people's skin. Aging is a process we all take forgranted, but when you look more closely, and compare a baby's face,to that of a grandparent's, the effects of our largest organ beingexposed to all the pollutants in the air, sunlight, and cigarettesmoke is baffling.

This aging of the skin is an outwardmanifestation of "oxidative stress," which is occurring within everycell in your body.Over the past 7 years, I have reviewed well over 2,000 medical andscientific studies in regards to nutritional supplements and theiraffect on your health. These studies appearing in medical journalslike the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the AmericanMedical Association, British Lancet, and Annuals of InternalMedicine report that beyond any doubt the "root" cause of well over70 chronic degenerative diseases is "oxidative stress." These arethe "who's who" of diseases we all fear and want to avoid; diseaseslike heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, cancer, arthritis,Alzheimer's dementia, macular degeneration, lupus, MS, fibromyalgia,and chronic fatigue.

"So what," you may be wondering, "is `oxidativestress'?"Within every cell of the body is a furnace called the mitochondria.As oxygen is utilized within the furnace of the cell to createenergy and life itself, occasionally a charged oxygen molecule iscreated, called a "free radical." This free radical has at least oneunpaired electron in its outer orbit essentially giving it anelectrical charge. If this free radical is not readily neutralizedby an antioxidant it can go on to create more volatile freeradicals, damage the cell wall, vessel wall, proteins, fats, andeven the DNA nucleus of our cells.

Chemically this reaction has beenshown to be so volatile that it actually causes bursts of lightwithin our bodies!Imagine yourself in front of a crackling fireplace and I'll give youthe best illustration I have to explain the process of oxidation.The fire burns safely and beautifully most of the time, but onoccasion out pops a hot cinder that lands on your carpet and burns alittle hole in it. One cinder by itself doesn't pose much of athreat; but if this sparking and popping continues month aftermonth, year after year, you will have a pretty "ratty" carpet infront of your fireplace.

The fireplace represents the furnace of the cell (the mitochondria),the cinder is the charged"free radical," and the carpet is your body. Whichever part of yourbody receives the most free radical damage will be the first to wearout and potentially cause one of these degenerative diseases. Ifit's your arteries, you could develop a heart attack or stroke. Ifit is your brain, you could develop Alzheimer's dementia orParkinson's disease. If it's your joints, you could developarthritis.Through biochemical research we're learning that we are notdefenseless against this attack on our body by free radicals.Antioxidants are like the glass doors or fine-wire mesh we place infront of our fireplace. The sparks are still going to fly but ourcarpet will then be protected.

As you begin to imagine the war thatis taking place within every cell in your body, you can envision thetwo opposing forces: the enemy—free radicals; and your allies—antioxidants and their supporting nutrients.Living a healthy life becomes a matter of balance.

You must haveenough antioxidants available to readily neutralize the number offree radicals your body produces. If you don't, "oxidative stress"will occur. When this oxidative stress is allowed to persist over aprolonged period of time, you will most likely develop a seriouschronic degenerative disease.Each of us must ask, "Am I getting enough antioxidants from my dietto protect myself from this onslaught of free radicals or do I needto be taking nutritional supplements?"

This is the question thatI've had to ask myself as I have spent countless hours researchingmedical literature. You see I was taught in medical school that youdon't need supplements—that you can get everything you need from agood, healthy diet.And this is what I told my patients for years. I was wrong.Since balance is the key, we need to look closely at the individualplayers that are at war within. The number of free radicals youproduce each and every day is never the same. All the pollutants inour air, food, and water dramatically increase the number of freeradicals we produce. Enormous stress, excessive exercise, cigarettesmoke, sunlight, radiation, and every drug prescribed greatlyincrease the number of free radicals produced in the body.

In fact,there has never been a generation on this planet subjected to moreoxidative stress than this present one. We are literally underattack from our polluted environment, stressful lifestyles, and over-medicated society.This ongoing attack is depriving us of our most precious gift—ourhealth.

But God did not leave us defenseless against this onslaughtby free radicals. In fact, we actually have our own army ofantioxidants, which are able to neutralize free radicals and renderthem harmless. In generations past, these defense systems weresufficient. Unfortunately this is no longer the case. Our bodies'defense systems need additional allies.Most antioxidants come from vegetables and fruit.

This creates a gapin our protection, because our foods have become significantlydepleted in their content of antioxidants and supporting minerals asa result of mineral depletion in our soils, green harvesting, coldstorage, foods that are highly processed, our poor food choices andfood preparation.At a time when we are under the heaviest attack from the environmentaround us, our natural defense systems are becoming overwhelmed anddepleted.

We must do all we can to rebuild our antioxidant systemswith a healthy diet, but too you need to learn how complete andbalanced nutritional supplementation with high quality supplements(cellular nutrition) is our best hope in winning this war within andprotecting our health.