Free Radicals. What are they?

ANTIOXIDANTS & FREE RADICALS

Free Radicals cause damage to your health

What are free radicals?  Where do free radicals come from?  Can free radicals damage the body?  How can free radicals be controlled?

The human body is comprised of millions of molecules.  Molecules are the basic building blocks of the elements in life, such as amino acids, glucose, fatty acids, etc.

Orbiting each molecule are electrons that help hold the molecule together.  Electrons are usually associated in pairs.  When there is an odd number of electrons in orbit, the molecules tend to become unstable and reactive.  A molecule in this state is referred to as a free radical.

Free radicals are found in every facet of life.  They are formed in the environment and are produced internally by the body.  Air pollution, tobacco smoke, excessive radiation, various chemical reactions, toxic waste, pesticides, and herbicides are only some of the environmental sources of free radicals.

Our bodies also produce free radicals.  The process of breathing produces free radicals in a reaction process that produces the energy necessary for living cells to survive. 

The immune system also produces free radicals.  When bacteria invade our bodies, the immune system produces free radicals to help break down and overcome the infection.  It is vital to control the amount of free radicals present to protect healthy tissue from damage.

Free radicals can be damaging to the body because of the chain reactions they produce.  When a free radical comes in contact with a stable molecule, it robs an electron from that molecule.  The process continues, passing from one molecule to the next until it is either contained or cellular damage results because of that change. 

When a free radical regains the electron that it lost, the cells does not regain its original form and function; it remains damaged.  The process is like an injury.  A burn may eventually heal, but the affected area will contain scar tissue that never lets the body be restored to its original condition.  The human body is usually capable of controlling the free radicals produced internally.  Free radicals are dangerous because they are present in massive quantities externally.

In an open forum on Pycnogenol, Dr. Lamar Rosquit described what free radicals can do the things outside the body.  “they (free radicals) cause steel to rust, paint to oxidize, rubber to turn hard, they cause hoses to crack, they wear out your windshield wiper blades, they cause wood shingle to turn from honey-coloured to gray in one year, they cause cement to become porous, they wreak havoc with everything outside the body. 

Now do you think you can breathe pollution 16 to 20 times a minute, 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours a day, and have no damage from those free radicals inside your body?  Not on your life!”

Dr. Robert J. Willix Jr. reported that free radicals contribute to three main health problems: cancer, heart trouble and arthritis.  Controlling the amount of free radicals in the body can ameliorate 60 adverse health conditions.  Dr. Willix’s answer to the problem is antioxidants.  Pycnogenol is an antioxidant which can counteract the dangerous effects free radicals have on the body.