Oxygen - Friend and Foe
Health & Fitness → Nutrition & Supplement
- Author Jess Ba-Ad
- Published May 20, 2007
- Word count 595
Oxidation is a natural occurrence. It happens when some atoms or
molecules reacts with oxygen. Oxygen is like a magnet for
electrons. Molecules whose electrons are not tightly bonded to
its nucleus tends to give up an electron to the oxygen. That
molecule is then said to be oxidized.
Most stable atoms and molecules have electrons that are in
pairs. If one of the electrons loses its pair(becomes a free
radical), their tendency is to 'steal' an electron from
neighboring atoms to make itself 'whole' so to speak. This
becomes the onset of a free radical chain reaction until an
antioxidant is encountered.
We witness oxidation in our everyday lives: iron rusts when
exposed to oxygen, meat of fruits turning brown when exposed to
oxygen, meat fat getting rancid when exposed to oxygen.
We breathe oxygen and our blood distributes it to our cells
giving us life and at the same time exposing our insides to
possible free radical chain reactions.
The mitochondria, the energy producer of a cell, requires oxygen
to manufacture energy. The process undergoes several controlled
oxidation of several molecules until energy(ATP) is produced. A
by-product of this process are free radicals. Heavy physical
activities can multiply these by-product of free radicals
several times because the cells need more oxygen to produce more
energy. As the energy production grows, free radical by-product
also grows.
Free radical chain reactions can damage or 'deform' healthy
cells. The onset of many degenerative diseases may be caused by
these damages that free radicals leave behind. Some diseases
that may be caused by free radicals are Alzheimer's disease,
cardiovascular disease, macular degeneration and even cancer.
Researchers has also discovered that cell damages caused by free
radicals are one of the factors that causes aging. Minimizing
free radical chain reactions can increase our average life span.
Since oxidation is a natural occurrence, our bodies are also
equipped with 'defenses' for that.
Antioxidants are molecules that can give up or donate an
electron to another molecule without becoming unstable or
reactive. When a free radical 'steals' an electron from an
antioxidant, the chain reaction stops.
Our bodies have internal antioxidants on 'stand by' to stop free
radical reactions. Some of these are:
Superoxide Dismutase(SOD)
Glutathione
CoQ10
But sad to say, some internal antioxidants are produced less by
our bodies as we age especially when we reach about the age of
Glutathione levels can be raised by supplementing with N-Acetyl
Cysteine. N-Acetyl Cysteine not only raises glutathione levels
but has other properties that are really beneficial to our
bodies.
CoQ10 is also better supplemented as we age. Like N-Acetyl
Cysteine, it is not only a potent antioxidant but it also has
other properties that benefits our bodies.
Assisting these 'internal' antioxidants, we also take in
'external' antioxidants from the food we eat like:
Vitamin C
Vitamine E
Beta Carotene(Vitamin A)
Bioflavonoids from fruits and vegetables
The food we eat may not be enough to supplement our antioxidant
requirements mainly because of our eating habits. It would take
quite a discipline to stick to a diet to meet our antioxidant
needs.
There are also external causes that can build up free radical
reactions in our body like smoking, toxic fumes, second hand
smoke from smokers and radiation from sunlight. Even irregular
exercise can cause free radical chain reactions.
Funny how oxygen can be life giving and at the same time life
threatening. But this is the world we live in - everything has
an opposite; male-female, light-dark, cold-hot, peace-war. What
matters is how we deal with it.
The author writes about antioxidants and free radical in layman's terms. Visit his website at:
http://users2.nofeehost.com/feelgoodwithantioxidants
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