The Free Radical Theory of Aging
If you have any interest in how your body is aging – and I would think everyone over the age of fifty will pay a lot of attention to this question, then you should learn a little something about the Free Radical Theory of Aging. If you’ve never heard of free radicals, I can assure you that they are not politically motivated, but are quite distructive never the less. Free radicals are unstable or damaged molecules that need to steal an electron from another nearby molecule in order to restablize themselves. In so doing they create another unstable molecule and the cycle repeats – creating a chain reaction that damages the systems in your body starting right at the cellular level.
Nature’s balance to free radicals are antioxidants. These are special molecules that can surrender an election to restabilize a free radical. They don’t steal a replacement electon from other molecules. They prevent the chain reaction, defending the cell from this type of damage which leads to aging.
It makes sense that damage to your cells will age you, both visibly and hidden inside. Think of the skin of a fifty something sun worshipper. We’re not all that much different from other machines which – after years of wear and tear start to fall apart. We might not have broken screws, but chronic inflammation is hardly rare and it’s a classic sign of free radical damage.
So where do they come from? There are two main sources of free radicals – one source is the outside environment – think of pollution and cigarette smoke and the host of toxic substances that we inflict on our bodies. And then on the other hand there are the free radicals that are made by our own bodies.
Our bodies make free radicals in different ways.
To create energy we use oxygen as fuel and generally convert it to water. But like many other processes in nature, the fuel doesn’t always burn as cleanly as we would like and the result is free radical versions of the oxygen molecule.
Oxidants – which are free radicals are actually useful to our bodies in some ways. For example the white blood cells in our immune system actually use oxidants to combat parasites, viruses and bacteria. This process exposes our own cells to the oxidants as well. We also produce hydrogen peroxide (another free radical) as a byproduct of the break down of fatty acids. Some molecules of hydrogen peroxide escape from the antioxidants that are present and should have broken it down, and instead go on to ravage other nearby cells.
Out bodies produce, free radicals in millions of and millions of cells and do it almost constantly. Luckily we also have the ability to produce the remedy in the form of powerful free radical scavengers like CoEnzymeQ10 and Glutathione.
In an effort to combat the external sources of oxidants – like drugs, pesticides, cigarette smoke and other foreign and toxic chemicals our bodies creates an exzyme called Cytochrome P450. However, in calling up this necessary enzyme, we create a by-product, free radicals. The toxins damage us on their own, and we damage ourselves to fight them. It ages us.
With the abundance of oxidants available to damage our cells and age us, it’s important to ensure that we promote the production of antioxidants to fight them. They are among our best anti-aging and immune supporting defense systems. Among them C0Q10 and glutathione are incredibly important antioxidants to combat the damaging effects of free radicals.