What is oxidative stress?
What is oxidation, and why do we need to consume foods that are “anti” oxidants?
Oxidation is a normal process in the body. It involves chemical reactions in which reactive oxygen species (ROS) are formed. The key issue is these ROS are not docile. Left unchecked, they quickly do damage. Even the production of energy by the mitochondria, which happens in every cell in the body, produces oxidation. Again, this is normal. The problem with these ROS is that they are very reactive – they want to bind to and chemically alter DNA, other molecules, and structures such as proteins and cell membranes.
This is how increased oxidative stress causes inflammation, heart disease, neurodegeneration, cancer, and even just aging in general. The ROS, left unchecked, damages the cells and their components.
Dealing with Reactive Oxygen Species
Under ideal circumstances, when this reactive oxygen intermediary is formed the body is able to quickly convert them into a molecule that is NOT reactive, not intent on doing harm to the surrounding tissue. This is where antioxidants come into play.
Here’s what you want to know –> Antioxidants allow the body to “buffer” these ROS. In other words, they give the body the capacity to convert these reactive molecules to not being reactive. It’s like they make them chill out, so they aren’t attacking everything near them.
Flooding the System
Here is the real problem we face in America: we live in such a way that we place EXTRA oxidative stress on the body. Our bodies can deal with some ROS formation, but when we pile on extra, we lose our ability to keep up, and that’s when those disease listed above start developing.
- Diet: Refined sugar, processed foods, trans fats, and excess calories cause increased oxidative stress.
- Sedentary lifestyle: increased oxidative stress.
- Chronic inflammation: central belly fat, poor gut health, poor dental hygiene: increase oxidative stress.
- Toxins: pesticides, heavy metal exposures, chemicals found in food and skin products can all cause increased oxidative stress.
When we are consuming highly processed food found in boxes, skipping the fruits and vegetables, and sitting on the sofa stuffing cookies in our mouth we are overrun with oxidative stress.
The Role of Antioxidants
Whether you’re consuming supplements like vitamin E and vitamin C, CoQ10, alpha lipoid acid (ALA), and NAC, or you’re getting more antioxidants in your diet by consuming berries, green leafy vegetables, green tea, dark chocolate, or nuts and seeds you are improving the amount of oxidative stress your body can handle.
When I have more antioxidants coursing through my blood vessels, these reactive oxygen species get dealt with more quickly, and they are unable to exert their profound, negative impact on my health.
That means that I have more energy, the neurons in my brain are not being damaged, the plaque is not forming in my arteries, and my DNA is not being damaged in such a way that I develop cancer.
What Can you do?
First, eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, ideally organic so there aren’t the pesticides in them causing increased oxidative stress. If you have central body fat, get on a program to eliminate that as a source of inflammation. Move your body because exercise functions as a natural antioxidant and consume those supplements we just mentioned like vitamin E, C, Co10, ALA, and NAC plus those antioxidant rich foods.
Where do we recommend supplements from? Fullscripts and/or metagenics.
Visual Learner? Check out Dr. Dee Bonney’s video here: