SISYPHUS PUBLICATIONS ONLINE
WELLNESS AND NUTRITION
Beating The
Free Radicals: Why Your Diet Alone May Not Be Enough
Fail
to ensure that your diet is adequate in anti-oxidants and you’re asking for your
body to be attacked by free radicals.
And the potential severity of this attack should not be underestimated,
because free radicals are strongly implicated in the ageing and degeneration of
our cells and therefore of our bodies as a whole.
If
you’re at all interested in diet and nutrition you’ve probably heard of free
radicals and gathered that they’re regarded as highly damaging. You may also be aware of research
suggesting that so-called “anti-oxidant” foods (sometimes referred to as
“superfoods”) and supplements may play a useful role in counteracting the
effects of these free radicals.
But
what exactly are free radicals and anti-oxidants, and how do they do what they
do within the body?
To
provide a detailed explanation would probably require a PhD in molecular
biochemistry, but the basics appear to be as follows.
Every
cell in the body is comprised of molecules, which are in turn comprised of
atoms. Each atom is made up of a
nucleus surrounded by layers of electrons and it is the electrons in the
outermost layer which form stable molecules by bonding with the electrons of
other atoms. Free radicals are
formed, however, when normal metabolic
reactions within cells sometimes
leave some of these electrons unbonded and their molecules thereby destabilised.
This is a
perfectly normal and natural process, and free radicals may even serve a useful
purpose in helping the body’s immune system to counteract threats such as
viruses and bacteria. Normally the
body can in any case handle free radicals, but problems can arise if they’re
produced in excessive quantities or if insufficient anti-oxidants are
present. If
left unchecked,
free radicals multiply themselves through chain
reactions which can
rapidly lead to cellular
damage and ultimately even disease.
The
importance of anti-oxidants is that they seem to counteract the effects of free
radicals by using their own electrons to bond with and stabilise
them.
The
problem for us in the twenty-first century is that our environment seems as though it might have been expressly
designed to encourage our bodies to produce free radicals. Modern pollutants such as industrial
emissions, car exhausts, pesticides, herbicides, dyes and all kinds of everyday
household chemicals expose us to ever greater quantities of toxins. An unwelcome by product of its
increasingly desperate struggle to detoxify the body is that the liver produces
enormous numbers of free radicals.
And
all of this is happening just when our diets have never been more deficient in
the anti-oxidant nutrients
which are most vital for the manufacture
of the free radical destroying anti-oxidant enzymes. Most important of all these nutrients
are vitamin C, mostly found in fresh fruits and vegetables; and Vitamin E,
principally found in whole grains, nuts and certain natural oils. But the
modern prevalence of highly refined grains, and the treatment of fruits and
vegetables with preservatives, dyes, pesticides and even radiation is a proven
disaster for the retention of these vitamins in their natural food
sources.
Despite
this, many physicians nevertheless continue to insist that a balanced and varied
diet including all the main food groups should generally provide adequate
nourishment, including anti-oxidants.
And in a sense of course they’re right. In an ideal world if everybody ate three
well balanced meals a day, including an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables,
there might indeed be no need for supplementation. But of course, very few of us do
eat like that these days.
It’s
been reported for example that some 25% of all Americans obtain only around 40mg
of Vitamin C from their daily food intake – and that’s only 2/3rds of a
recommended amount which many authorities regard as in any case far too
low. Likewise, the principal food
sources of vitamin E make it very difficult indeed to obtain an adequate supply
from food alone.
Although
the body functions holistically, and needs an adequate supply of a full range of
vitamins and minerals if it’s to produce a good supply of anti-oxidants, any
deficiency in vitamins C or E is particularly serious. Numerous studies have credited both
these vitamins with excellent protective effects against the characteristic
degenerative diseases associated with excessive free radical activity –
including diseases of the heart and circulatory system, age-related cognitive
and visual impairment, and even cancer.
Not
surprisingly, then, many well informed individuals, including many physicians,
take the view that supplementation of their diets with these vital nutrients is
a highly sensible precaution.
Steve
Smith
