Oxidation is a natural occurrence. It happens when some atoms or

molecules reacts with oxygen. Oxygen is like a magnet for

electrons. Molecules whose electrons are not tightly bonded to

its nucleus tends to give up an electron to the oxygen. That

molecule is then said to be oxidized.

Most stable atoms and molecules have electrons that are in

pairs. If one of the electrons loses its pair(becomes a free

radical), their tendency is to 'steal' an electron from

neighboring atoms to make itself 'whole' so to speak. This

becomes the onset of a free radical chain reaction until an

antioxidant is encountered.

We witness oxidation in our everyday lives: iron rusts when

exposed to oxygen, meat of fruits turning brown when exposed to

oxygen, meat fat getting rancid when exposed to oxygen.

We breathe oxygen and our blood distributes it to our cells

giving us life and at the same time exposing our insides to

possible free radical chain reactions.

The mitochondria, the energy producer of a cell, requires oxygen

to manufacture energy. The process undergoes several controlled

oxidation of several molecules until energy(ATP) is produced. A

by-product of this process are free radicals. Heavy physical

activities can multiply these by-product of free radicals

several times because the cells need more oxygen to produce more

energy. As the energy production grows, free radical by-product

also grows.

Free radical chain reactions can damage or 'deform' healthy

cells. The onset of many degenerative diseases may be caused by

these damages that free radicals leave behind. Some diseases

that may be caused by free radicals are Alzheimer's disease,

cardiovascular disease, macular degeneration and even cancer.

Researchers has also discovered that cell damages caused by free

radicals are one of the factors that causes aging. Minimizing

free radical chain reactions can increase our average life span.

Since oxidation is a natural occurrence, our bodies are also

equipped with 'defenses' for that.

Antioxidants are molecules that can give up or donate an

electron to another molecule without becoming unstable or

reactive. When a free radical 'steals' an electron from an

antioxidant, the chain reaction stops.

Our bodies have internal antioxidants on 'stand by' to stop free

radical reactions. Some of these are:

Superoxide Dismutase(SOD)

Glutathione

CoQ10

But sad to say, some internal antioxidants are produced less by

our bodies as we age especially when we reach about the age of

Glutathione levels can be raised by supplementing with N-Acetyl

Cysteine. N-Acetyl Cysteine not only raises glutathione levels

but has other properties that are really beneficial to our

bodies.

CoQ10 is also better supplemented as we age. Like N-Acetyl

Cysteine, it is not only a potent antioxidant but it also has

other properties that benefits our bodies.

Assisting these 'internal' antioxidants, we also take in

'external' antioxidants from the food we eat like:

Vitamin C

Vitamine E

Beta Carotene(Vitamin A)

Bioflavonoids from fruits and vegetables

The food we eat may not be enough to supplement our antioxidant

requirements mainly because of our eating habits. It would take

quite a discipline to stick to a diet to meet our antioxidant

needs.

There are also external causes that can build up free radical

reactions in our body like smoking, toxic fumes, second hand

smoke from smokers and radiation from sunlight. Even irregular

exercise can cause free radical chain reactions.

Funny how oxygen can be life giving and at the same time life

threatening. But this is the world we live in - everything has

an opposite; male-female, light-dark, cold-hot, peace-war. What

matters is how we deal with it.