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It has long been established that reactive oxygen species (ROS) cause many types of damage to biomolecules and cellular structures, that, in turn result in the development of a variety of pathologic states such as diabetes, cancer and aging. Active oxygen species are considered to inactivate enzymes in the cells, damage DNA and destroy lipid membrane which should cause every disease, aging as well as cancer as far as the most recent medical research is concerned. In other words, if we can succeed in preventing oxidative damage by active oxygen species, we can control the disorder! We can prevent many diseases and stay healthy! We can live longer! |
| Harmful free radicals are toxic molecules of oxygen that damage every area of our bodies. One free radical can initiate tens of thousands of chain reactions that cause tremendous harm (destroy cell membranes, disrupt crucial processes in the body, reprogram DNA, form mutant cells, and more). Free radicals are a major contributing factor to nearly all situations of non-ideal health. The best strategy to minimize their negative effects on us is a two fold approach. Avoid exposing yourself to things that create free radicals and support your body in apprehending them |
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| Antioxidants convert toxic free radicals into harmless elements. Therefore, having high levels of bio-compatible antioxidants in your system causes fewer detoxification "side-effects" than those produced when the body has to eliminate, rather than neutralize, toxins, as in water fasting and other forms of bodily cleansing and detoxification that don't incorporate bio-compatible antioxidants. |
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| Cooked Food (especially animal products (chickens and other birds, cows, pigs, fishes, lambs, eggs, dairy products, animal fats and proteins, and metabolic waste products contained in animal tissues and organs) and refined foods such as white sugar, white flours, hydrogenated oils, etc.)
Any foods other than raw foods from the plant kingdom Environmental pollution (from air, water, household chemicals, asbestos, pesticide residues, & other man-made pollutants including the out-gassing of plastic and other synthetics) Preservatives, Colorings, and other food additives Metabolism |
Smoking and passive smoke
Exposure to excess heat or cold Medical Treatment including medications Alcohol Bacteria Parasites Chemotherapy & Radiation Prescription & Over The Counter Drugs Exercise Lack of Truly Clean & Fresh Air Radiation (including electromagnetic radiation from anything electric such as outside power lines; wires in your home/work, TVs, computer monitors, etc. |
Heart Disease & Strokes
Computers/Monitors/TVs Use of Ovens Refrigerators Nutrient deficiencies (major & minor) which can still occur even on the best of diets (even fresh, raw foods contain only as many nutrients as the soil in which they were grown) Sunburn Stress (any) Judgment or any other non-positive mental state Synthetic materials such as Polyester, Acetate, Satin, Plastics, etc. Tap Water, Drinking Water, etc. |
What happens if you don't have an abundant supply of antioxidants?
"Aging", along with all of the degenerative conditions that go hand-in-hand with it, greatly accelerates!!!
| The disease Progeria demonstrates this. It is a rare disease that affects children: They have an inability to produce metabolic antioxidant enzymes, and therefore, go through all of the uncomfortable conditions of "aging" at an extremely accelerated rate. At 10 years old, they look, feel and are biologically very old and in poor health. If they were producing a normal amount of antioxidants, this would not happen. In fact, antioxidants are the only way to protect yourself from free radicals once they are formed! Healthy foods and bio-compatible supplements contain antioxidant nutrients, pigments and other substances designed for our use, protection and health; and the body naturally produces metabolic antioxidant enzymes (which destroy, and prevent the formation of, free radicals) to keep free radicals in check, but... |
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HEALTHY CELL (left) | FREE RADICAL DAMAGE (right)
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Due to a highly compromised environment, non-ideal food, etc., people have far more free radicals and far less metabolic antioxidant enzymes (decreasing with age, nutrient deficiency and cooked food consumption) than are needed for optimum health. Our natural free radical defense systems have been severely weakened, drained, and overrun. If you think you don't need extra protection (even on the best diet), think again!
Consuming food cooked at normal temperatures creates significant amounts free radicals and also depletes our metabolic antioxidant enzymes (taking plant enzymes with cooked foods will help significantly). Cooked whole foods from the plant kingdom, however, still do contain significant amounts of usable, naturally occurring antioxidants (including phytochemicals/phytonutrients). |
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If cellular damage is a cause of ageing, and if we can slow down that damage, it makes sense to think that ageing can be retarded. For example, when free radical activity is taking place, damage to cells occurs, protein synthesis becomes impaired, proteins become cross-linked and tangled, tissues become less pliable, arteries incur damage leading to atherosclerosis, genetic material (DNA/RNA) is damaged leading to possible cancer development and to inefficient repair processes, age pigments accumulate which literally drown the cells in lipofuscin, preventing them from functioning, and in general all the signs and indications of ageing are promoted, whether this is stiffness, poor circulation or wrinkles (cross-linkage), not to mention diseases such as atherosclerosis, arthritis, cancer and, it is now believed, Alzheimer's disease. Professor Alan Hipkiss, of King's College, University of London, writing in Human Ageing and Later Life (edited by Anthony Warnes and published by Edward Arnold, London, 1989) tells us that free radicals are also responsible for the damage which occurs in cataracts due to cross-linkage of proteins, and he says: 'Oxygen free radicals can also damage DNA which, if it is not repaired, could give rise to altered, mutant proteins.' |