Antioxidants: Waging War Within our Bodies
I am sure you have heard the term antioxidant thrown about everywhere from the back of your yogurt cup, to the tea you drink and the vegetables you eat, but do you really know what this class of nutrients does. Think of it this way, your body is a war zone and the soldiers at the front line are antioxidants.
What is fighting what you ask? Antioxidants are trying to rid your body of excessive amounts of free radicals before they start a chain reaction. This chain reaction, if unchecked, could cause a buildup of free radicals, leaving your healthy cells and tissue at the risk of being prematurely oxidized. Oxidation is cell death or in a worst case scenario a mutation. It occurs when a molecule in our body splits, leaving an atom with an unpaired electron. Bah I hate chemistry you say, well this is easy stuff to understand, and the effect is what we are seeking to understand. So now we have this rogue molecule wanting to steal electrons from other compounds… and well, it does. This electron stealing mayhem is oxidation, and the compound that was robbed then itself becomes a free radical. Now we see how this may be a problem so how do we stop it?
Well you will never eliminate all free radicals from your body, actually your body makes its own to help it break down complex bonds within certain nutrients. These are ok, it is the unchecked radicals we seek to destroy and for this we need Antioxidants. Among the most prolific are:
- Vitamin A (sweet potato, carrot, kal, mango, spinach, papaya, milk)
- Carotenes (broccoli, carrots, spinach, squash, apricots)
- Vitamin C (red and green peppers, broccoli, strawberries, tomato, cabbage)
- Vitamin E (wheat germ, almonds, sunflower seeds, peanut butter, broccoli)
- Glutathione aka GSH
- Alpha-Lipoic-Acid
- Coenzyme Q10 or CoQ10 (oily fish like mackare, chicken, whole grains)
Glutathione does not have any sources listed as it rapidly synthesized in the liver and kidneys and oral supplementation has been shown to have no increase on blood glutathione levels. What we can do though is help our bodies to produce GSH by providing nutritional compounds required for its synthesis. Vitamin C supplementation has been shown to increase blood GSH levels by nearly 50% and R-Alpha Lipoic Acid has also been shown as a powerful precursor to GSH synthesis. What is so special about Glutathione? It detoxifies poisons in the body that can destroy white blood cells and in turn damage our liver. Research has shown that when people get sick, and their GSH levels drop, they get sicker, so we want to do what we can to keep Glutatione levels at their peak.
Alpha Lipoic Acid is one of the most powerful antioxidants we know of. It increases the rate of almost all nutrient absorbtion in our bodies and destroys free radicals like nobody’s business. The R isomer version is the one that is biologically available and found in our bodies. Research at the University of Wyoming, along with many other universities, also shows that R-ALA supplementation has a very positive effect on weight loss by modulating the bodies fat deposition processes. It also strongly mimics insulin, making our bodies much more effective at dealing with fluctuating blood glucose levels. Simply, its bad ass. 100 to 300 mg a day is great as a supplement. It does nothing but keep you healthy and has no known side effects or toxic levels. But like anything else, over supplementing will not do you any good so stay in the range specified above.
So we have learned that antioxidants eat free radicals for lunch, and work to keep us as healthy as can be. Optimizing our bodies function and efficiency as well, so until next time, stack the fruits and veggies and stay healthy.
