Aging Before Our Time
Reprinted from The Wellness Report
Medical and scientific research has identified one common denominator linking scores of diseases. This repeat offender levels attacks within our body every day. It is estimated that more than 60 chronic diseases, including advanced aging, heart disease, and cancer, are attributed to this menace. It is also being held responsible as the reason why many of us won't reach our potential life span, which according to some experts is 120 years. This sorry reputation belongs to free radicals.
Dr. Denham Harman, a professor of medicine and biochemistry at the University of Nebraska, published a paper in 1962 defining free radicals, as well as the connection between them and aging and disease. Like those of James Lind and other nutritional pioneers, Dr. Harman's ideas were initially met with skepticism. Though the scientific community was slow in accepting free-radical theory, today it is ranked as one of the most important theories in modern medicine. For the individual concerned with preserving health, understanding this theory gives a significant advantage.
Limiting free-radical damage promotes health and protects against disease. We must first have an understanding of free radicals and how they occur in order to protect our body from their damaging effects.
The body is made up of cells. Cells contain molecules. The molecules, in turn, contain electrons, which are negatively charged and travel in rings consisting of pairs. Pairs of electrons have one electron traveling up and one traveling down. Together, they balance, each pulling equally on the other. These equal pairs are how normal electrons exist in molecules of the body. However, when the body is challenged by refined foods, pollutants, stress, and other damaging factors, these molecules break off one of the paired electrons. This unpaired electron is known as a free radical. Once the free radical is at large, it is unstable, because it no longer is balanced within a pair. The free radical runs out of control and bombards other molecules. This sets up a chain reaction that can damage multiple cells in the body, creating more free radicals. Like a domino effect, the chain reaction has the potential to cause damage to cell membranes, disrupt crucial processes in the body, reprogram DNA, and form mutant cells. This process continues until the body can find ammunition to stop the progression. Unless this chain reaction is stopped, the prolonged damage causes advanced aging and leaves the body vulnerable to disease.
Free radicals and molecules are microscopic. For an example of scale, two tablespoons of water contain approximately sixty billion trillion molecules. A free radical is about the size of a molecule. Though the average free radical exists only a nanosecond, it can damage literally thousands of molecules in the body before the chain reaction stops.
A slice of apple makes a good visual example of free-radical damage. When you cut an apple and expose the flesh inside to air, the oxygen in the air will oxidize, or create free radicals, in the apple. Soon, the apple begins to decay. The same process, left unchecked, occurs in the body. One free radical in normal cholesterol has the potential to create many free radicals, causing damage to artery walls, subsequent hardening of the arteries, and, finally, heart disease. Damage from free radicals, occurring in the genes that instruct our cells how to function, can result in cancer. Other diseases resulting from free-radical damage include Alzheimer's, cataracts, and many more.
Since a free radical is an electron that's missing its “mate,†the body tries to remedy the free radical by finding a replacement electron mate. When the electron is paired up again, it becomes stable once more. Often, the missing electron is found by breaking down healthy cells, which causes further damage. The ideal situation is for electrons to be available by means other than the breakdown of healthy cells. This solution is obtainable by the presence of food compounds. Food compounds contribute the required electron to calm the free radical and prevent continuing damage. Once the free radical is neutralized, enzymes in the body can dispose of this once deadly renegade.
Food compounds protect the healthy living cells of the body. This protection has been proven by more than 9,000 studies on whole foods. These studies demonstrate without a doubt that food compounds are the best defense against free radicals and the diseases they promote. In one study, it was shown that people with the highest intake of carotenoids (a type of food compound comprised of a family of powerful neutralizers of free radicals) had a 43% lower risk of age-related macular degeneration (vision loss that often results in blindness) than people with little or no carotenoid intake. In another study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a report shows that the food compounds contained in broccoli are able to help protect living cells from free radicals that cause cancer.
Air pollution, tobacco smoke, radiation, refined and fast foods, and various chemicals are among just some of the factors that trigger free radicals. Free radicals are the consequences our bodies endure as part of living fast-paced lives in our modern world. Although it is impossible to avoid exposure to all of the triggers that cause free radicals, eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains as well as taking a good multi-vitamin supplement containing an antioxidant, or by using antioxidant supplements you can offer the body powerful protection.
This information is provided by Nubian Health Products a company dedicated to promoting better Health and Wellness by Communicating, Educating and Preventing health problems.
Medical and scientific research has identified one common denominator linking scores of diseases. This repeat offender levels attacks within our body every day. It is estimated that more than 60 chronic diseases, including advanced aging, heart disease, and cancer, are attributed to this menace. It is also being held responsible as the reason why many of us won't reach our potential life span, which according to some experts is 120 years. This sorry reputation belongs to free radicals.
Dr. Denham Harman, a professor of medicine and biochemistry at the University of Nebraska, published a paper in 1962 defining free radicals, as well as the connection between them and aging and disease. Like those of James Lind and other nutritional pioneers, Dr. Harman's ideas were initially met with skepticism. Though the scientific community was slow in accepting free-radical theory, today it is ranked as one of the most important theories in modern medicine. For the individual concerned with preserving health, understanding this theory gives a significant advantage.
Limiting free-radical damage promotes health and protects against disease. We must first have an understanding of free radicals and how they occur in order to protect our body from their damaging effects.
The body is made up of cells. Cells contain molecules. The molecules, in turn, contain electrons, which are negatively charged and travel in rings consisting of pairs. Pairs of electrons have one electron traveling up and one traveling down. Together, they balance, each pulling equally on the other. These equal pairs are how normal electrons exist in molecules of the body. However, when the body is challenged by refined foods, pollutants, stress, and other damaging factors, these molecules break off one of the paired electrons. This unpaired electron is known as a free radical. Once the free radical is at large, it is unstable, because it no longer is balanced within a pair. The free radical runs out of control and bombards other molecules. This sets up a chain reaction that can damage multiple cells in the body, creating more free radicals. Like a domino effect, the chain reaction has the potential to cause damage to cell membranes, disrupt crucial processes in the body, reprogram DNA, and form mutant cells. This process continues until the body can find ammunition to stop the progression. Unless this chain reaction is stopped, the prolonged damage causes advanced aging and leaves the body vulnerable to disease.
Free radicals and molecules are microscopic. For an example of scale, two tablespoons of water contain approximately sixty billion trillion molecules. A free radical is about the size of a molecule. Though the average free radical exists only a nanosecond, it can damage literally thousands of molecules in the body before the chain reaction stops.
A slice of apple makes a good visual example of free-radical damage. When you cut an apple and expose the flesh inside to air, the oxygen in the air will oxidize, or create free radicals, in the apple. Soon, the apple begins to decay. The same process, left unchecked, occurs in the body. One free radical in normal cholesterol has the potential to create many free radicals, causing damage to artery walls, subsequent hardening of the arteries, and, finally, heart disease. Damage from free radicals, occurring in the genes that instruct our cells how to function, can result in cancer. Other diseases resulting from free-radical damage include Alzheimer's, cataracts, and many more.
Since a free radical is an electron that's missing its “mate,†the body tries to remedy the free radical by finding a replacement electron mate. When the electron is paired up again, it becomes stable once more. Often, the missing electron is found by breaking down healthy cells, which causes further damage. The ideal situation is for electrons to be available by means other than the breakdown of healthy cells. This solution is obtainable by the presence of food compounds. Food compounds contribute the required electron to calm the free radical and prevent continuing damage. Once the free radical is neutralized, enzymes in the body can dispose of this once deadly renegade.
Food compounds protect the healthy living cells of the body. This protection has been proven by more than 9,000 studies on whole foods. These studies demonstrate without a doubt that food compounds are the best defense against free radicals and the diseases they promote. In one study, it was shown that people with the highest intake of carotenoids (a type of food compound comprised of a family of powerful neutralizers of free radicals) had a 43% lower risk of age-related macular degeneration (vision loss that often results in blindness) than people with little or no carotenoid intake. In another study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a report shows that the food compounds contained in broccoli are able to help protect living cells from free radicals that cause cancer.
Air pollution, tobacco smoke, radiation, refined and fast foods, and various chemicals are among just some of the factors that trigger free radicals. Free radicals are the consequences our bodies endure as part of living fast-paced lives in our modern world. Although it is impossible to avoid exposure to all of the triggers that cause free radicals, eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains as well as taking a good multi-vitamin supplement containing an antioxidant, or by using antioxidant supplements you can offer the body powerful protection.
This information is provided by Nubian Health Products a company dedicated to promoting better Health and Wellness by Communicating, Educating and Preventing health problems.