The Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz corroded due to oxidation. We’re suffering much worse damage as a result of oxidative stress, and we need more than an oil can to keep us in good repair!
You know what oxidation does to a piece of iron . . corrosion and rust! Our bodies are under the same sort of stress. Even though oxygen is required for life, it may generate damaging by-products during normal cellular metabolism. These by-products are known as free radicals.
The oxidation process is necessary, but it leaves behind free radicals, oxidized molecules that are missing electrons. These molecules are unstable and agitated. They remain unstable until they steal new electrons to replace the missing ones. They prowl around our bodies taking electrons from our cells, even our most critical ones like electron-rich DNA.
When free radicals rob electrons out of our DNA it no longer works properly. DNA stores our genetic information and controls the reproduction of all new cells, including the cells in our organs, heart, brain and other tissues which are vital to our health.
Left unchecked, free radicals may cause over 50 health problems including abnormal development of new cells; damage to vision; increased aging of skin, organs, and bones; damage to heart and blood vessels; damage to the nervous system and brain cells; enzyme malfunction; cancer; and a weak immune system.
Various things increase our metabolic activity and consequently increase our body’s generation of free radicals:
- Strenuous physical activity
- Mental stress, depression, and recurring anxiety
- Toxins in in what we eat, drink,and breath,
We have in our blood streams 300 – 500 toxins, most that didn’t exist prior to the Second World War. It doesn’t matter what section of the country we live in. One researcher tested people throughout the country and found that 100% of the subjects tested had 100% of the toxins tested for.
Our water supplies have been contaminated by agricultural fertilizer runoff, pharmaceutical drugs flushed down our commodes, and industrial pollution.
Perhaps the best way to protect our bodies from free radical damage is by consuming foods high in antioxidants. Antioxidants easily give away electrons to “hungry” free radicals that are electron deficient. Antioxidants either bind to the free radicals and convert them into non-damaging compounds or by repairing cellular damage.
Antioxidants found in food include vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and the carotenoids. Our bodies can also produce antioxidants. However, the antioxidant content of our modern diet has been sharply decreased due to soil depletion, “green harvesting”, and today’s farming methods. Any antioxidant nutrients in fruits and vegetables that survive our modern-day growth and harvesting methods then suffer due to the cooking, processing, preserving, and packaging common today.
Thus to make sure that our bodies get enough antioxidants it is essential to eat foods high in antioxidants and to take a reliable antioxidant supplement in our daily diet. This pdf document, A comparative list of antioxidants, shows the free radical protection provided by each of 91 different antioxidant products based on their ORACo value. ORAC is an acronym for Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity. The original ORAC assay was a measurement for only water-soluble antioxidant activity. ORACo assays both fat and water-soluble antioxidant activity.
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