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Aging Gracefully by Using Nutrients
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by Charlene Noble
The problem with aging isn't in growing old. The problem is being too short of breath to blow you’re your birthday candles as the years go by. With each passing year, a larger assemblage of age-related conditions seems to pursue the aging customers who frequent health stores--each malady groaning and dragging its chains like a specter. These conditions include heart disease, chronic infection, stroke, cancer, macular degeneration, cataracts and Alzheimer's disease.
How can you spare yourself from such ailments? There are only two answers--good genes and healthy living. No one can control your genetic make up, but it is possible to control your lifestyle. Living well includes getting enough relaxation, community spirit, exercise and nutritious foods. It may also include taking certain vitamins and minerals. A plethora of research data suggests that high intakes of antioxidant-rich vegetables, fruits and supplements lowers the risk of age related diseases.
As you are already aware antioxidants are agents that destroy free radicals. The body produces free radicals as by-products of energy metabolism within the cells, exercising, and fighting off infections. Various environmental substances such as pollution, tobacco smoke, the sun's ultraviolet rays and radiation can also create free radicals inside the body.
Without taking into the consideration the pollution in the air we breath, the oxygen we inhale is carried to our cells to help turn food into energy. In the process, some oxygen molecules lose an electron. Ideally, oxygen and other molecules keep their electrons in pairs. Molecules containing electron- deficient oxygen are considered free radicals. These free radicals become stable once more by capturing an electron from any substance in their path, damaging it in the process. This process, called oxidative damage, is the underlying cause of many age related health conditions and diseases.
Oxidative damage to low-density lipoprotein (a.k.a. LDL) cholesterol from free radicals, for example, increases the risk of arteriosclerosis, heart disease and other related conditions. Oxidation of DNA can cause cellular mutations that lead to cancer. If antioxidants don’t control free radicals, the damage accumulates and speeds up the aging process and disease. And when you include additional stresses on our body such as infection and air pollution, and the body on its own may not capable of supplying enough antioxidants to stanch free radical damage.
As free radical levels rise in our body, so does the need for antioxidants. Eventually, free radical production outpaces the body's natural supply of antioxidants and the more antioxidants a person needs to include in his or her diet. Smokers, for example, should take 2 to 3 times as much vitamin C to achieve the same antioxidant blood levels as nonsmokers.
AntioxidantGuide.org does not sell or recommend products. If you are interested in purchasing products and don't know where to begin,
we recommend that you visit the site NutritionalTree.com to read what other people
are saying about various products. NutritionalTree.com collects unbiased user reviews for popular health supplements.
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