Oxidative Stress and Free Radicals: Little Known Dangers Within Our Bodies
Over the past several years, it has become well known that stress is not good for our health. We generally recognize the unhealthy effects of emotional stress from our work, unemployment, family situations, failed investments, and other life challenges. But there is another type of stress that is relatively unknown, but equally unhealthy— oxidative stress.
This type of stress is relatively new to medicine, having been discovered only about 40 years ago by pioneering scientists such as Dr. Joe McCord. Prior to that, medical researchers did not believe that oxidative stress occurred in our bodies, even though it was well recognized in non-medical situations such as rusting metal.
Oxygen is essential for life. Our bodies generate energy by combining oxygen with the food we eat. A result of this internal combustion process in our bodies, however, is the creation of damaging byproducts called free radicals. Free radical damage in the body is known as oxidative stress. These unstable molecules damage our cells and over time create aging in our bodies and skin.
Due to the simple act of living, all of our bodies have oxidative stress. Pollutants in our air and food, mental stress, smoking, and even strenuous exercise just add to this harmful burden.
Our body produces defenses against free radicals with antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, catalase, and glutathione. When we are young, our bodies produce enough antioxidants to offset the toxic effects of free radicals. However, as we grow older, the production of these antioxidants decreases and our bodies can’t keep up with this oxidative load.
Oxidative stress may not directly cause disease. However, it is becoming increasingly recognized as a major contributing factor to over 200 diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Data from the National Institutes of Medicine shows currently over 100,000 published peer-reviewed scientific studies on oxidative stress and associated diseases, with numerous new studies being released daily.
Upcoming blogs will reveal that simple antioxidants are not enough to reduce oxidative stress. Scientists have discovered a way to increase antioxidants naturally within our body at a far greater rate than what we can get from fruits, vegetables, and juices.
Stay tuned for more exciting details!
Peter A. Lipson, M.D.
6:39 pm on Monday, June 18, 2012
As a physician, I would like to point out that this model of disease has pretty much fallen out of favor. "Oxidation" and "antioxidants" are terms simplified to the point of meaninglessness. Oxidation, one of the primary ways we produce energy on the cellular level, is also used by our white cells to kill invaders.
There is not, at this point, a significant body of literature supporting the "oxidative stress" hypothesis, nor are there many uses for "antioxidants" supported by the medical literature.
David Zuza
6:50 am on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Pubmed.gov is a database of almost 22 million scientific, peer-reviewed studies maintained by the US National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. It is used extensively by physicians and medical researchers to review various topics, and is considered the most extensive and credible repository of medical studies.
I conducted a query of the following topics at 8:30 am, June 19, 2012. It revealed the following number of completed scientific studies. It is important to note that the number of these studies increases daily, which reflects an increasing and not decreasing interest in these topics:
• Antioxidants: 344,258
• Oxidative stress: 100,573
• Oxidative stress and cardiovascular disease: 15,936
• Oxidative stress and cancer: 10,635
• Oxidative stress and aging: 8,174
Most objective observers would likely agree that these statistics are compelling evidence that overwhelmingly contradict your assertion that these topics have “fallen out of favor” or do not have a “significant body of literature” in the medical field. Do you have statistics that support your opinions?
It is true that oxidation is used by our bodies to neutralize pathogens, but on balance the volume of free radical molecules far exceeds the amount needed for such purposes. Free radicals create a cascading toxic effect on our cells and damage our proteins, lipids, and DNA. This imbalance is why it is called stress.