What are Free Radicals?
What are free radicals?
Free radicals, are unstable molecules which can harm your cells, high levels of which can damage DNA and are linked to practically all degenerative illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and all deficiency symptoms. With out Antioxidants these radicals could cause serious harm quickly. However, free radicals are not all bad, they play an important role in fighting infection in the immune system. Once toxins are present in the body, our cells generate the free radicles, which contain oxygen, helping to destroy the invading yeasts and funghi with the production of hydrogen peroxide.
Free Radicals are promoted in the body through exposure to toxins from the following sources: pollution, cigarette smoking, alcohol, high blood sugar levels, UVA/B radiation, water, food & bacterial, viral and fungal infections to name a few. But to ensure that they can be created when needed, the body needs a good supply of oxygen, which is why foods and exercise are so important in this generative process.
The problem lies once this job is done. After the production of free radicles for protection, the same healthy cells then become the target, requiring Antioxidant defence. Cells unprotected by Antioxidants risk having their cellular DNA disrupted, affecting their cellular activity. These now damaged cells can become tumours, growths, and other stagnations inside the body, as well as speeding up the aging process and contributing towards wrinkles, dark age spots and lowered immunity.
The worse foods for containing high levels of free radicals are poly unsaturated fats and oils, rancid oils, and fried foods (except cold pressed or flax) due to the oxidization process which takes place when these oils are heated to a high temperature, which creates abundant free radicals and should be avoided.
