Antioxidants

Antioxidants are substances that help protect the human body against damage caused by highly reactive molecules known as free radicals, which accelerate aging and contribute to the development of numerous diseases, including cancer and heart disease, two of the leading killers in the United States.

Free radicals

Free radicals are molecules with an odd or unpaired electron that damage DNA in human cells. Normal metabolic processes generate free radicals, but substances such as pesticides, tobacco smoke, radiation and other environmental pollutants can significantly increase free radical production in the body. Free radical damage to human cells can be compared to the oxidation of metal, which results in rust. The human body faces a continual onslaught of free radicals: Dr. Bruce N. Ames, a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, speculates that cells in the human body are exposed to about 10,000 free radical attacks each day.

Damaged DNA

Because free radicals have an odd or unpaired electron, they are constantly searching for another electron to create a stable pair. When a free radical takes an electron from a cell in the body, it creates another free radical that is also missing an electron, resulting in a continuous process in which free radicals are regenerated. This process damages cellular DNA and leads to disease and acceleration of the aging process.

The following is a more detailed description of how free radicals damage DNA:

1. Free radicals attach thymine, one of the four nucleotide bases in DNA.
2. As a result, thymidine glycol is formed.
3. The structure of oxidized thymidine changes to a cluster.
4. The cell attempts to repair the damaged part of the DNA by replacing it with new DNA.
5. Numerous DNA repairs lead to more cellular mutations.
6. Cellular mutations can lead to malignant growth.

Rancid Fats and Cellular Destruction

Free radicals also cause damage by turning fats in the body rancid. This process creates liposuscin, a brown waste product that leaves age spots on the hands and interferes with synaptic communication in the brain. Lipofuscin deposits are also found in the liver, eyes, heart and other organs. At age 30, the amount of intracellular lipofuscin is about 35 percent; at age 90, lipofuscin levels skyrocket to 78 percent.

Free radicals can also destroy cell membranes, interfering with cells’ ability to take in nutrients and expel waste, and rupture cell lysosmes, thus directly entering cells and destroying their contents.

Antioxidants for an Antiaging Brain

Your body “rusts” when exposed to little oxygen fragments called free radicals or oxidants. Our bodies and brains are exposed to these troublemakers when we breathe air pollution and tobacco smoke, eat fatty foods and are exposed to pesticides. Even if you lived in a pristine world, your body will would be making free radicals during normal metabolic processes.

Luckily, your body has an anti-free radical arsenal, called antioxidants. These are the housekeepers that sweep up oxidants and flush them out of the body. Antioxidants defend cells from aging and protect tiny blood vessels that transport nutrients to brain in cells, keeping them elastic and free of “debris”. Since 20% of the heart’s output goes to the brain, all of these benefits mean improved blood flow and better thinking.

The trick is to maintain an antioxidant arsenal equal to or better than the onslaught of free radicals. As we get older, oxidative damage to tissues, including the brain, intensifies, so that a 30-year-old person needs more antioxidants than a teenager, and the required dose increases even more with every passing decade. If you want to protect your brain, you must build a huge antioxidant arsenal, then replenish it daily.

And it works. People who feast on antioxidant-rich foods and supplements throughout the day also have the highest blood and tissue levels of these do-gooders and the lowest risk for developing dementia, depression or even Alzheimer’s disease. They live the longest, they think the clearest and they are the happiest. Even their sex lives improve!

Try Ginseng

Ginseng has many beneficial effects. It has been used for thousands of years by herbalists to reduce cholesterol levels, increase the absorption of nutrients through the intestinal walls, mop up free radicals in the bloods, and protect against cancer. Ginseng may decrease muscle injury and inflammation following exercise, and some studies suggest that it may reduce oxidation of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and brain tissue. This herb can also boost your metabolism. It does so primarily by alleviating stress and by reducing the amount of carbohydrates that are processed into your bloodstream and cause your glucose levels to spike. People scheduled for surgeries should stop taking ginseng a week before surgery and caution should also be practiced if taking anticoagulants. Patients with hormone-sensitive diseases – like certain cancers – should not consume ginseng.