Free radicals HELP you; anti-oxidants antagonize



 

Free radicals are produced by the millions during all sorts of metabolic reactions. On their own they cause oxidative damages & are accused for degenerative diseases, cancer, aging [1], etc. 
 
To counter the free radical damage, our cells produce antioxidants, but in that neutralization reaction, these free radical scavengers themselves become a free radical, albeit a weaker one.  
 
In the dark & distant microvita-unaware past, health-minded smart Alecs like me used to load up on antioxidant compounds with the vain hope to beat back the much maligned free radicals. 
 
It turns out that, they are not all that bad after all. For instance their intricate role in your cell signalling [10] :

  1. Free radicals provide a positive feedback loop giving you greater energy [1]
     
    When you exercise your muscles, more ROS (reactive oxygen species) are released… these free radicals may trigger production of more mitochondria, if need be. 
     
    Mitochondria are the power houses inside our cells.
  2. Free radicals stimulate the release of adiponectin hormone which increases the insulin sensitivity of your cells. This keeps away obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, etc.
  3. Free radicals also spur the expression of genes that tune-up insulin sensitivity. “Exercise increased insulin sensitivity only in the absence of antioxidants in both previously untrained and pretrained individuals.” [7]  
     
    “If transient increases in oxidative stress are capable of counteracting insulin resistance in humans, it is possible that preventing the formation of ROS by, for example, antioxidants might actually increase, rather than decrease, the risk of type 2 diabetes.” [7]

Some other intrigues :

  1. Most antioxidants pills & antioxidant drinks are just a repackaged cocktail of synthetic vitamins & minerals.  
  2. Some antioxidant vitamins become pro-oxidant after their mutual chemical reactions; for e.g vitamn C in the presence of excess iron or copper [3].
  3. During the manufacturing process itself some of these cheap forlorn vitamins get oxidized and hence no longer work as anti-oxidants.
  4. One of the explanations of the ‘High Vitamin E leads to Heart Disease’ hypothesis is that megadoses of antioxidants turn into pro-oxidants.
  5. “Antioxidants are not the magic bullets that the supplement industry would like consumers to believe”,  
     
    …said David Schardt, a nutrition expert with the consumer advocacy group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “They're not even necessarily benign.”
  6. Clinical trials using supplements of vitamin C, E and carotenoids have shown inconsistent results implying that whole fruits and vegetables rather than the individual compounds they contain help in disease prevention [4].
  7. Andrew Shao from CRN, Washington DC, argues that pulling a nutrient out of context and testing it in a clinical trial is ridiculous. “That’s simply not how nutrients work. They work in concert with each other”.[5]  
     
    “Antioxidants can play their part only when they are in their natural composition (with other necessary co-acting molecules in milieu), and it is unlikely to exert the same effect as a single synthetic compound or even when compressed together as an extract”.   
  8. According to Dr. Erik Skovenborg from the Scandinavian Medical Alcohol Board, extracted polyphenols have poor antioxidant power as compared to those obtained by consuming natural antioxidant rich foods.
  9. “Published findings tentatively suggest that antioxidant fruits and vegetables may exert health-promoting effects despite their antioxidant content and possibly due to other bio-active compounds” [7].

In simple words, it’s your intake of entire antioxidant food that benefits, alongwith related parameters, anti-oxidant supplements may actually harm.  
 
Also keep in mind what the NQ presentation briefly touched upon regarding the outdated reliance on mere “fruits & vegetables” as quoted above by the mainstream experts.  
 
That’s what they best understand. But just like other nutrients, known & unknown, MicroVita SuperDiet™ is ideally structured to supply all the antioxidants you’ll ever need to source from your daily meals :

Get cheap antioxidant foods 47.9 times better than Blueberries

Wanna beat free radicals 47.9 times better than blueberries do?

  1. Your body needs –
    • The entire antioxidants list, not all of which have been pin-pointed yet
    • Full assemble of catalytic antioxidants
    • Both hydrophilic & lipophilic antioxidants apposite benefits
    • A nice spread of low & high molecular weight antioxidants
    • Different antioxidants that specialize against specific free radicals
    • Endogenous & exogenous antioxidants.

    There is much more to free-radical scavengers than the list above but do antioxidant superfoods cover all of these biologic territories?  
     
    MicroVita SuperDiet™ does.

  2. While most free radicals in your body are derived from oxygen (ROS), some are also derivatives of nitrogen (“Reactive Nitrogen Species”, RNS), as influenced by your diet.

The food vendors keep on harping on the antioxidants in green tea, coffee, chocolate & blueberry but it seems they happen to gloss over a few pertinent facts …

  1. Biochemist Barry Halliwell from the National University of Singapore has discovered that tea and coffee are also bursting with reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the form of hydrogen peroxide [4]
     
    “Every time you drink a cup of coffee it’s a dilute bowl of hydrogen peroxide,” says Halliwell.  
     
    The hydrogen peroxide is there because of the presence of the antioxidants – antioxidants react with oxygen in the water to produce hydrogen peroxide.
  2. Chocolate’s ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) score (used to calibrate anti-oxidant strength) crashes down to 1/4th when you add sugar to it.Isn’t that the way it’s always eaten? 
     
    Same dynamic holds true for green tea, coffee, antioxidant water & fruit juices with added sugars.
  3. Perhaps you already know how the over-feted blueberries fare against our humble beans. As per USDA, the ORAC scores for the same amount of –
    • Kidney Beans: 8459
    • Pink Beans: 8320
    • Black Beans: 8040
    • Blueberries: 6552

    Thus red bean has 29% more antioxidants than the hyper-sold blueberry; & at a fraction of it’s cost.

  4. Not surprisingly, blueberries are commonly faked using synthetic colors, transfats and High Fructose Corn Syrup; which btw is made from genetically modified corn [6].  
     
    Enjoy your blueberry muffins, pie, scones, pancackes…
  5. Since the internet & other media are flooded with commercially planted info – you won’t discover the really most powerful antioxidants on this planet, simply because they aren’t that glamorous.  
     
    Allow me to retain such precious gems for the picky subscribers of the free MicroVita SuperHealth research gazette ;-)

 
Got some email-address to trade in for those 12 uber-concentrated anti-oxidant foods that are 316% to 4699% more effective free radical scavenger than blueberry, besides being dirt cheap & easily available?  
 
After subscribing, wait for the relevant issue of the MicroVita SuperHealth newsletter. They are delivered in a sequence; 1-click unsubscription, anytime, at your call. Here’s my sanctified email privacy policy.
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References:  

1. The free radical theory
2. Antioxidant supplements might increase risk of diabetes
3. EDTA
4. The antioxidant myth
5. Synthetic antioxidants
6. The blueberry fraud  
7. Antioxidants prevent health-promoting effects of physical exercise  
8. Vitamins and Antioxidants – Are they effective?  
9. General AntiOxidant Actions  
10. Free radical chemistry  
 

PS:  Incidentally, your free radical scavengers also play a significant role in anti-radioactivityIF they meet atleast 2 essential criteria – which unfortunately are NOT much of a case with your current healthy diet.

Get clear on the finer points of trust-worthy anti-radioactivity preparedness, protection from the horrible side effects of chemotherapy, possible nuclear terrorism, etc.

Information is shared sequentially with the readers of the MicroVita SuperHealth research gazette. Email privacy policy.  
 
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Wait:  
 
Have they made you nutritionally superstitious?  

Tune-up your microvita cornucopia : antioxidant and cancer, antioxidant and skin,…  

Arm yourself with more sensible ways to kill unwanted germs lurking inside  
 
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Comments are listed in reverse chronological order, i.e. older comments are below newer ones.
  1. #3  James

    Good post. I learn something tougher on totally different blogs everyday.
    It would at all times be stimulating to learn content from other writers and
    practice a bit something from their store. I’d choose to make use of some with the content on
    my weblog whether or not you don’t mind. Natually I’ll
    give you a link on your net blog. Thanks for sharing.

    20:39
  2. #2  Nina Ennaji

    I am in total agreement with you about free radicals – so nice to hear from someone who is on the same page!

    10:32
  3. #1  Joni Solis

    It use to be that coconut oil was bad for you. Now it is good for you. Now free radicals went from bad to good. Never know what will flip.

    13:24

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