Antioxidants And The Tin Man Of Oz

The Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz rusted up due to oxidation.  Our bodies are also damaged due to oxidative stress, and it'll take more than an oil can to repair it!

We all know what oxidation can do to a piece of iron . . corrosion and rust!  Our bodies are under the same kind of stress.  Although oxygen is required for life, it may produce damaging by-products during normal cellular metabolism.  These by-products are known as free radicals. 

The oxidation process is essential, but it leaves behind free radicals, oxidized molecules that are missing electrons.  These molecules are unstable and agitated.  They stay unstable and short of electrons until they capture new electrons to replace the missing ones.  They roam around our bodies stealing electrons from our cells, even our most important ones like electron-rich DNA.

When free radicals pull electrons out of our DNA it can no longer function properly.  DNA keeps our genetic information and controls the reproduction of all new cells, including the cells that make up our organs, heart, brain and other tissues which are critical to our health.

Left unchecked, free radicals may cause in excess of 50 health problems including abnormal development of new cells; injury 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.

Several things ramp up our metabolic activity and therefore increase our body’s production of free radicals:

• Strenuous physical activity
• Mental stress, depression, and recurring anxiety
• Industrial chemicals in our water, air, food, and beverages

We have in our blood streams 300 – 500 toxins, the majority of which didn’t exist prior to World War II.  This is regardless of what section of the country we live in.  One researcher tested people around the U.S. and found that 100% of the people tested had 100% of the toxins tested for.

Our water supplies have been polluted by chemical fertilizer runoff, medicines flushed down our toilets, and industrial pollution.

Perhaps the primary way to protect ourselves from free radical damage is by consuming foods high in antioxidants.  Antioxidants easily give up electrons to “hungry” free radicals that are electron deficient.  The way that antioxidants work is that they either bind to the free radicals and change 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 foods has been seriously decreased due to soil depletion, “green harvesting”, and modern farming methods.  Any antioxidant nutrients in fruits and vegetables that make it through our modern-day growth and harvesting methods then suffer due to the cooking, processing, preserving, and packaging common today.

Therefore to ensure antioxidant protection it is essential to eat foods high in antioxidants and to include 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 stands 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.