According to Dr. Denham Harman, emeritus professor of
the university of Nebraska, aging arises from the process of
oxidization. If you cut an apple in half and let it sit for a while,
it turns brown because of oxidization. Or, look at what happens to a
car that has been sitting in a junkyard exposed to oxygen over time.
It corrodes and we use the term rust when we refer
to
oxidization of metals.
The aging process is similar to this because our cells
need a source of energy in order for us to live and that source is
oxygen. However, oxygen can also be harmful to our body if we
were to breath pure oxygen instead of air, which contains only 21%
oxygen. In fact, our lungs would be destroyed in only 2 days if we
were to do this.
In 1954, Dr. Harman’s research had led him to
postulate his theory of aging- that free radicals, the byproducts of
oxidation, are the true cause of aging. This theory is now widely
accepted around the entire world.
So What Are Free
Radicals?
Free radicals are formed within the organism
itself as a result of the conversion of sugar and oxygen into
energy. This conversion takes place in the mitochondria, structures
found inside the cells. Mitochondria fulfill their function of
producing energy, but leave radicals in their wake.
Free radicals assist in the extermination of germs and
certain bacteria so they are good to have available in our body. But
when they accumulate, they cause chain reactions that damage
cell membranes and our genetic material.
Without going into a lot of detail, a free radical is
an atom or nucleus that has lost an electron partner. Because
electrons exist as pairs, during oxidization, they lose their
partner in order to create energy. This is why they are called
"free" radicals. They
are free from their partner but
now they go about wildly to seek out and to unite
with another electron to stabilize itself once again. It does this
by stealing an electron from another molecule, which in turn does
the same thing. This causes a chain
reaction resulting in
cellular chaos. Each molecule in our body lives only a few
thousandths of a second yet every chromosome receives some ten
thousand attacks like this every day!
Free radicals also affect other processes such as
hormonal regulation and the development of the proteins necessary to
regulate nerves, muscles, skin and hair. Free radicals are so
destructive that a single free radical can damage a million or more
molecules. This is why they cause a multitude of diseases.
To name just a few:
Arteriosclerosis
Alzheimer’s disease
Cancer
High blood pressure Schizophrenia
Parkinson’s disease
Down’s syndrome
Memory loss
Brain deficiencies
Paralysis
Cataracts
Arthritis
Emphysema
Cystic
fibrosis
Pre-mature aging
Without a doubt, free radicals sabotage good health
and encourage the aging process to speed up, but, only if we allow
them to have this freedom.
Antioxidants Prevent This
Damage
Fortunately our bodies have some protective mechanisms
against the harmful effects of free oxygen radicals and other even
more powerful radicals such as the so-called peroxides and hydroxyl
radicals. The protective mechanisms are enzymes and
antioxidants.
Some enzymes in the human body are capable of
neutralizing the free radicals as soon as they are formed. The
best known
of such enzymes is called SOD (super oxide
dismutase). SOD and other enzymes convert super oxide and
damage to lipids and to DNA This mechanism slows down in our
body later in life, so that the damage may accumulate and become
visible as the process of ageing, when tissues lose their
elasticity. Damage to the hereditary material (DNA) in a normal cell
may cause
it to become a cancer
cell.
Remember what happened to the apple that we cut in
half? It turned brown due to oxidation. But if we were to cover it
with vitamin C, the vitamin C would protect it from doing this.
This is why it is so important to make sure your body gets the
nutrients it needs for protecting your health.
But ask yourself this question: “How much vitamin C
did I get from my diet yesterday?” Was it enough to protect you that
day or was some of this damage already done? What about the day
before or the week before? Should we really leave it up to
chance knowing what these free radicals are up to each and every day
in our body? Can we or
should we really depend
on just our diet to give us this
protection based on our current food supply that is
available to us these days?
What about our fast paced lives? Do you ever skip a
meal or eat on the run? Do you keep from eating certain foods you do
not like but contain a lot of antioxidants such as raw vegetables?
As you can see, free radicals are not something we want to simply
allow to have free space and time to damage our cells or age us long
before our time. Why not stay as young as we
can for as long as
we can by simply supplementing our diet with antioxidants from a
proven source such as Shaklee?
The chain reaction of damage in the human body caused
by free radicals can be interrupted by antioxidants. Vitamin
E,
which is found in vegetable oils, is the most effective
antioxidant. It stops the chain reaction by becoming a radical
itself, but since it is stable, no further damage is
done! Other well-known antioxidants are vitamin C, Coenzyme
Q10, Carotenoids, found in vegetables, and Flavonoids, found in
fruits.
If you want the best protection using Shaklee
products, start with our Wellness Pack. It is just like building a
house; you want to start with a good foundation before putting on
the roof for overall protection. Then, if you want the very
best protection against free radical damage, add Shaklee CarotoMax,
FlavoMax, and CoQHeart.
I strongly believe that these are the products that
helped me beat cancer a few years back. I wish they were available
before I even got the cancer in the first place. But, I am so glad
Shaklee is on top of things and has produced products proven to
provide these results for me and give us this much needed
protection. You should not wait to take charge of your health
because everyday counts. So do it today before any other damage
is done to your body. After all, you only get one per life.
:)
If you like, we can show you how to get these products
at a very good price. As a CBC member, you can get up to a 44%
average discount each and every month. If you want, there is even a
way for you to use them for free! So there is really no reason
not to use them and every reason in the world why you should! So get
started today so you can feel better
tomorrow.
Till next time, have a very protected future,
Bob
Andolina
References:
- 1993 - supplementation with vitamin E was associated
with a 30-40% reduced risk for coronary disease in a study of
90,000 nurses (Nurses Health Study; NEJM 328:1444-1449)
- 1993 - total vitamin E intake is inversely related
to the risk of colon cancer; those with a highest vitamin E intake
had
the lowest incidence of colon cancer (Iowa Women's Health
Study; Cancer Res:53:4230-4237)
- 1994 - Levels of vitamin E intake were inversely
correlated with coronary deaths in both women and men in a large
(>5000 people), long-term (14 year follow-up) Finnish study
(Am. J. Epidemiol. 139:1180-1189).
- 1997 - A review of the literature concerning vitamin
E and breast cancer concluded, "although epidemiologic study
results have been inconsistent, further study of this nontoxic
vitamin is warranted." (Nutr. Cancer 27:109-117).
- 2000 - supplementation with Vitamin E
supplementation may prevent ischemic stroke in high risk
hypertensive patients (Arch Neurol. 57:1503-1509; analysis of data
from the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study)
- 2004 - protective effect of vitamin E
supplementation on upper respiratory tract infections in elderly
nursing home residents (JAMA 292:828-836)
- 2004 - supplementation with vitamins E and C in
combination is associated with reduced prevalence and incidence of
Alzheimer Disease (Arch. Neurol. 61:82-88; this study is from
Johns Hopkins)
FDA
- allows qualified health claim regarding "consumption of
antioxidants (including Vitamin E) and reduced risk of some forms of
cancer."
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