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Anti-aging with antioxidants

Here is a fun and simple experiment you should try: Take a fresh apple and slice it in half. On one of the halves, smear lemon juice over the cut surface. Now leave both halves out on a table for an hour, then check on them. What you will see is that the apple half that was untreated has now turned brown and unappealing, whereas the half you treated with lemon juice is still fresh and delicious. What you see is antioxidants in action.

The lemon juice contains a strong antioxidant, in this case vitamin C. It protects the vulnerable fruit flesh against free radicals that try to break down the healthy cells in the apple.

The same process goes on everywhere inside your body at all times. The difference is that your cells don’t have a supply of lemon juice to coat them, at least not as directly as in the experiment. They do, however, have an antioxidant defence.

The rotting of the apple can be compared to the aging of the human body. There are differences, but the basic process is the same. One of the reasons antioxidants have enjoyed such a lot of attention for the last decade is the realization that they have strong anti-aging effects.









Aging in humans is a very complicated field of study, and we still don’t have one single complete explanation for why and how we age. The mechanisms behind aging are known to some extent, but exactly how many of the aging symptoms that can be attributed to the genes is unknown. What is certain is that the processes in the cells are central to the problem of aging. Undoubtedly, the genes we are born with, the blueprints for our bodies, play an important role in aging. However, the roles of free radicals and antioxidants show great promise for being at the core of the aging problem and also many other health concerns.

The free radicals theory of aging states that aging is a result of the cumulative damage to the DNA in the cells brought about by substances known as free radicals. These are compounds that are produced naturally as a result of the metabolism, when nutrients are turned into energy and substances that the cells in the body can use. Free radicals attack all parts of the cells that make up the body, including the DNA in the nucleus. This happens through a process that’s called oxidation, whereby a free radical breaks down the chemical structure of otherwise healthy cells. This is the same process that occurs when a car rusts or an untreated apple half turns brown and rots. The free radicals are constantly rusting and rotting our cells, breaking them down. This is called oxidative stress and is the root cause for both many diseases and the maladies of aging.

Aging and free radicals are strongly linked. A large number of diseases related to aging can be alleviated by antioxidants that neutralize free radicals. Diseases related to age, as well as the less harmful symptoms of aging, don’t really have anything to do with the passing of time, but are directly related to the amount of accumulated damage done by free radicals. Your age is related to time only by the rate at which the oxidative rusting and rotting is taking its toll on your body. We don’t age one year at a time; we age one cell at a time.

Antioxidants absorb, convert and reduce the number of free radicals and prevent new free radicals from being created. They may even help reverse the damage already done by free radicals. The body will repair the damage itself, if the antioxidants can provide it with the opportunity to do so and keep the free radicals away as the repair process is under way.

Keeping the antioxidant content in the body as high as possible should be a high priority. The body can produce some antioxidants itself, but the rest must be supplied from the outside, through the diet.

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Keeping the free radicals away in the first place is just as important as getting antioxidants into the system. Many activities and circumstances increase the concentration of free radicals in the body. The most important of these are smoking, overeating, eating unhealthy food, exposing unprotected skin to the sun, and living in a toxic environment. These are all factors that will significantly increase the concentration of free radicals - and some of them will decrease the antioxidant content in the body at the same time. In order to get the full benefit of an active and informed use of antioxidants, eliminating these risk factors is essential. They all contribute to accelerated aging and make the cells prone to developing illness and accumulating damage. We are lucky to live in an age when we are starting to understand the reason why we age and what we can do about it. Ours is the first generation that can have some hope of stalling the onslaught of aging symptoms and in some cases reverse them. Putting that knowledge to good use is something everyone should do. Not everyone has this information yet, but those of us who do should take action and make sure we get in on this revolution as soon as possible.

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