OXYGEN IS A POISON!
why we need anti-oxidants
Despite its status as a necessary life substance
for all except a few special organisms, oxygen is a highly toxic
mutagenic gas (FREE RADICALS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE, B Halliwell
and J MC Gutteridge, OUP, Oxford 1999, p. 1). We can only survive
its presence in our atmosphere because we have important anti-oxidant
mechanisms to protect us from its damage.
Initially the earth's atmosphere had less than 1% oxygen. But activity
by blue-green algae species billions of years ago gradually increased
these levels. For them it was just a waste product of a respiration
process that relied on releasing hydrogen from water. By 1.3 billion
years ago, levels had risen to 1%. Around 500 million years ago,
oxygen levels had reached 10%. This was sufficient to switch on the
all-important ozone layer, which protects the earth's surface from
blazing destructive UV radiation.
From then on, other life forms could evolve.
Oxygen may have reached 35% in the late Carboniferous
age, when life was mainly plant-based. The present level of 21% was
settled around 5 million years ago. As a result, oxygen is the most
prevalent element in the Earth's crust (53%); rock is basically silicon
dioxide, with additions
DEFINITION: Oxidation has long been taken to mean the addition of
an oxygen atom to an existing chemical structure. More latterly,
scientists have also used this term for an exchange in which an electron
is removed from a grouping. The opposite process, hydrogenation,
is the addition of hydrogen; addition of an electron to a grouping
is thus also hydrogenation.
About 85- 90% of oxygen taken up in advanced animal respiration
is consumed by the mitochondria. The essence of metabolic energy
production in the body is that food materials are oxidized, by having
electrons stripped. This releases the energy to create molecules
of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is the body's chief energy
transport mechanism. The whole process is done in a gradual step-wise
fashion, involving the creation of excited forms of iron, from ferrous
to ferric-haem cytochrome.
This is a very important physiological detail. It makes iron is
one of the most destructive oxidative stress elements in our tissues.
The removal of excess "hot" iron may be one of the principal
mechanisms by which chelation with EDTA reduces or even reverses
oxidative age damage.
The whole process is done under the control of a complex enzyme
system called the cytochrome oxidase pathway. Cytochrome oxidase
in mammals is special in that it works efficiently when there is
almost no oxygen present. But xenobiotics and pollution very quickly
poison this system, and so render us liable to tissue damage by oxidation.
REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES
The term "free radicals" (hence free-radical damage) was
soon introduced into this debate. But strictly a free radical is
simply one capable of existing independently (hence the term "free");
they don't necessarily bite! A better term is reactive oxygen species
(ROS). The chief reactive oxydation ions are O2 and OH (hydroxyl
ion). The so-called superoxide radical is not, in truth, as active
or damaging as the basic oxygen radical, despite its name! The quartet
is made up with the peroxide ion. This is also a killer ion and is
generated briefly by certain white cells, to damage microbes before
ingesting them. Out of place it is potentially harmful to us.
Finally, ozone is another reactive oxygen species which is highly
destructive to living cells. However it is little found at sea level,
remaining largely in the upper atmosphere, where it shields us from
harmful UV radiation. Unfortunately, urban pollution, notably with
traffic emissions, in the presence of sunlight, creates dangerous
levels of ozone which we may breathe. It causes lung damage.
ANTI-OXIDANTS
Oxidation stress, leading to tissue damage, has now
been implicated in a wide variety of disease complaints, including
arthritis, heart disease, cancer, dementias and other degenerative
illnesses. Environmental pollution and overburdened lifestyles unquestionably
potentiate this ageing process. Smoking and excess alcohol increase
oxidative damage also.
The most sensitive organ to oxidative damage is the brain. Hardly
surprising, since around 25% of the body's metabolic activity occurs
in this one organ. This means real changes and loss of cognitive
function - "feeling old", lethargy, confusion and forgetfulness.
There are many subtle layers and degrees of this unfortunate process
which we recognize as a loss of zest for life and a failure to think
as sharply as we once did.
As we have come to understand the power and significance of oxidative
tissue damage, a key process in ageing, then substances which protect
us from this occurrence have assumed steadily greater significance.
We call these, not unnaturally, anti-oxidants. They can be listed
as follows:
-
AMINO ACIDS
cysteine, glutathione, methionine, taurine.
-
BIOFLAVINOIDS
anthocyanins (blue-black fruits), citrus bioflavinoids (lemon,
orange, grapefruit etc), oligometric proanthocyanidins (OPC)
in pycnogenol.
-
CAROTENOIDS
alpha and beta carotene (red, yellow and orange fruits and vegetables),
lycopene (red fruits and vegetables).
-
HERBS
Gingko, green tea, milk thistle, sage
-
MINERALS
Copper, zinc, manganese, selenium
-
VITAMINS AND CO-FACTORS
A, B2, C, E and coenzyme Q10, NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide).
-
ENZYMES
catalase, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase
-
BIOCHEMICAL INTERMEDIARIES
Glutathione
A number of proprietary "anti-oxidant" formulas
are on sale. Typically, these include mixtures of vitamin A, beta
carotone, C, E, selenium and zinc. It is advisable to eat plenty
of fresh fruit and vegetables, which all contain types of anti-oxidants,
as you see from the list above.
Chelation therapy is now known to act primarily as an anti-oxidant
process. Elmer Cranton MD, one of the doyen figures of chelation
therapy and author of several definitive books, thinks this is mainly
by removing "pro-oxidant" ions, such as iron. It may not
be all that simple. But the benefits are quite clear. I have now
taken to giving glutathione IV, along with EDTA, and found startling
extra benefits against ageing.
ATTACKS ON ANTI-OXIDANTS:
In February 2007 a shocking attack on antioxidants
was launched in an article published by the Journal of the American
Medical Association [Mortality in Randomized Trials of Antioxidant
Supplements for Primary and Secondary Prevention, JAMA. 2007;297:842-857].
The "study" claimed beta carotene,
vitamin A, and vitamin E given singly or combined with other antioxidant
supplements "significantly increase mortality". In fact it showed
no such thing and is typical of the way in which appaling perverted
science is published without question by mainstream journals, if
it in any way undermines natural health and living.
Even if taking these anti-oxidants really was associated
with a higher death rate, the "researchers' completely failed to
assess or deal with the possibility that sicker people may be more
desperate and more likely to try vitamins and minerals - but are
also more likley to die. This would cause a bias showing anti-oxidant
takers died quicker. But that's a million miles from saying that
anti-oxidants caused it!!
These hatchet jobs are often done by a "tool" called
meta-analysis. That means you pool all the bad studies with those
showing good outcomes, mix everything up, fudge all the figures
and - hey presto - you cancel out all the good outcomes. This review
of 68 studies covered nearly a quarter of a million people and might
sound impressive - if you don't know how these stories are faked.
The whole sham study tried to imply that patients
were dying of vitamins supplements, when of course they were dying
of heart disease, cancer, kidney failure and so on.
Take all the anti-oxidants you can swallow. There
are 100,000s of studies showing the benfits. Natural foods are best,
coloured foods and... chocolate! A BMJ study (December 19, 1998)
showed that the more chocolate you ate, the longer you lived. Chocolate
is very rich in anti-oxidants: natural unprocessed variety only,
I'm afraid!
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