By Dr. Jack Pfeifer
November 2004
"Through
free radical reactions in our body, it's as though we're being irradiated at low
levels all the time. They grind us down." ‹Lester Packer, Ph.D.
Normal
oxygen molecules have paired electrons in orbit around a proton nucleus. During
metabolism, 2 percent of the oxygen molecules lose an orbiting electron and are
left with a single unpaired electron. This is an unstable state in nature. This
resulting oxygen molecule is called an oxygen-free radical. To stabilize itself,
the free radical will capture an electron from an adjacent molecule. However,
this molecule will then become a new free radical, and it will repeat the
process. We now have a chain reaction in the body.
The effect of these
rapid electron transfers is called oxidation. It's the same process that makes
nails rusty and apple slices turn brown. Bruce Ames, a noted antioxidant
scientist, states that a single oxygen-free radical will create 3,000 new free
radicals.
The mathematics of this free radical chain reaction is
incredible. Do the math ‹one trillion molecules of oxygen go through each cell
every day. We know that 2 percent of them will be converted to oxygen-free
radicals, or 20 billion per cell each day. If each free radical creates 3,000
new free radicals (a process called biological magnification) the grand total
loosed in the body can be as high as 60 trillion free radicals per cell per day.
Ames also calculates that there are 100,000 free radical hits per day, directly
on the cell nucleus, genes, and DNA (the programmer of life).
Passwater
states that not only do free radicals rob normal molecules of electrons, they
also destroy key enzymes, protein molecules, and even entire cells. Remember,
the more of your cells that die each day, the sooner YOU die.
The body
tries to neutralize these hits with antioxidant enzymes, which can repair 99
percent to 99.9 percent of the damage, leaving 1,000 points of damage per cell
per day that are not repaired. This damage accumulates relentlessly. By the time
you're 50, there are a few million oxygen-free radical lesions per cell. Thirty
percent of your cellular protein has been damaged and has been turned into
"rusty junk." It is this cumulative damage that makes us age prematurely and
acquire disease. Eighty to 90 percent of the diseases of mankind are due to free
racial damage. Carper has stated that as we age, our defense against oxidation
(free radical attack) is less and less, and damage to cells accumulates even
more rapidly.
Sounds depressing, doesn't it? Next month I'll show you
that help is on the way. To learn more about this subject, read these useful
articles and books:
1. Feinstein, A. Editor, Prevention: Dealing with
Vitamins, Prevention Magazine.
2. Ames, BN, Oxidants, Antioxidants, and the
Degenerative Diseases of Aging, Proceedings of the Nation Academy of Sciences,
pp 7915-22, 90(17),1993.
3. Carper, J., Stop Aging Now, New York, Harper
& Collins, 1995.
4. Passwater, RA, PH.D., Mindell, E., The New Super
Antioxidants Plus, New Canann, Keats Publishing, 1992.
5. Pryor, W., Free
Radicals, New York, McGraw-Hill Publishers, 1966.
6. Packer, L. Ph.D.,
Colman, C., The Antioxidant Miracle, New York, John Wiley & Sons Inc.,
1999.
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