Article Surfing Archive

Researchers in search for the fountain of youth keep coming back to one fact: you are what you eat. What you eat has a tremendous impact not only on your health but also on your life span.

Aging that goes on inside your body has far more reaching consequences than a few wrinkles and gray hairs that seem to pop up over night. Sheldon Hendler, MD, Ph.D. says that much of the internal damage that accumulates over a lifetime, and the diseases that go with it, may be linked to mischievous molecules inside us called "free radicals".

Free radicals are created during the normal process of metabolism, cells produce unstable oxygen molecules that damage cells. As we get older the human body produces more and more of these free radicals.

These free radicals are molecules that have unpaired electrons that seem to attach most readily to electrons in fat molecules. A free radicals attack on the cells could kill or severely damage them, leaving them vulnerable to diseases commonly associated with the aging process.

Recent studies suggest that free radicals plays a central role in virtually every age related disease such as arteriosclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer' disease.

The brain is a good place to study the benefits of antioxidants, says Paula Bickford, Ph.D. a researcher at the University of South Florida Center of Excellent for Aging and Brain Repair. The brain has one of the highest percentages of fats of any organ in the human body, and it is in our fats that free radicals inflict much of their damage.

Since over 40 percent of the total calories in the typical American diet is derived from fat it not difficult to see how we might be exposed to extensive damaging free radical activity.

Substances called antioxidants can neutralize free radical by pairing up or binding with the free radical elections thus inhibiting them from damaging cells in the human body.

Common Vitamins and over the counter products can help with aging such as Vitamin A, Vitamin B, Vitamin E, Selenium, Beta Carotene, Lycopene, L-Glutathione, Vitamin D, Green Tea, and Antioxidant.

Vitamin C, E and some forms of Vitamin A and the mineral Selenium are known to be antioxidants that help to protect the body from these free radicals.

Vitamin A is stored in the liver and fat cells of the human body and can reach toxic levels. DO NOT take more than the recommended dosage of Vitamin A.

Up to one-third of older people can no longer absorb Vitamin B from their food. Vitamin B is needed to form red blood cells and keep nerves healthy.

The mineral Selenium has been associated with a significant reduction in the incidences of lung, colorectal and prostate cancer. Good sources are fish, asparagus, brazil nuts, meat, poultry and bread.

Beta Carotene helps protect Vitamin C from oxidation, which enables it to perform at optimum efficiency. Symptoms of Beta Carotene deficiency include ache, dry dull hair, dry skin and thickened scaly skin on the palms and soles of the feet.

Lycopene is very powerful in quenching free radicals as is L-gultathione. Ultra Antioxidant allows cells to perform more efficiently with less oxygen, enabling sufficient oxygen to be utilized for the cells and organs that specifically need it.

Vitamin D is manufactured in the skin following direct exposure to sunlight. Many studies show that Vitamin D production decreases in older people and in those who are housebound. Vitamin D is needed by the body to absorb calcium, which makes your bones stronger and helps prevent factures.

Green Tea Contains antioxidants that may protect against heart disease, several types of cancer, and skin damage.

Natural antioxidants are abundant in fruits and vegetables such as, apples, blueberries, broccoli, cherries, cranberries, grapes, spinach, and Spirulina a blue-green algae.

A 2006 article in the Journal of American Medical Association suggested that by periodically restricting our caloric intake to as little as 890 calories a day, or fasting, resulted in a decrease in insulin levels and body temperatures, another two biomarkers of longevity. Restricting calories helps to eliminate the free radicals by burning off more calories than you take in thus reducing the amount of fat stored in the human body.

Skipping a meal here and there from an evolutionary point of view would be beneficial. The human body is used to going days without eating anything but today we have constant access to food and we are taking in calories all day long.

Always consult your doctor before using this information.

This Article is nutritional in nature and not to be construed as medical advice.