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The Fountain of Youth to Stop Aging
Will We Ever Find It?
By Britt Mittemeijer
While we keep looking for that elusive Fountain of Youth, we may at least be able to slow the process of aging. That, in itself, would be good progress! Many scientists believe that free radical damage is the underlying cause of disease and that antioxidants give a powerful boost to the search for the Fountain of Youth!
Free radicals, antioxidants and molecular and atomic processes and how cells communicate with each other, are complicated matters, which require intensive study and research. Here is a simplified version to give you a picture of some aspect of what is involved and how you can protect yourself in your desire for health, wellness and longevity that much desired Fountain of Youth!
In a nutshell: Free radicals are atoms and molecules (the smallest knows building blocks of life itself) with unpaired electrons. They damage cells causing illness and aging by stealing from healthy cells. Antioxidants eliminate free radicals by neutralizing them. When cells die, the organism ages!
Every single cell in your body, and you have in the neighborhood of 10 trillion different ones, make up the organism which is YOU! It is estimated that each of those 10 trillion cells is being attacked by free radicals over 10,000 times per day. Every cell is the smallest self-sufficient unit of life. It is said that healthy cells make a healthy body. That makes sense, doesn’t it? In fact, it’s a no-brainer!
So, what are free radicals, and why are they a threat to your body?
Without dipping deeply into microbiology here, let’s just say that free radicals are unstable molecules and atoms. They are unstable because in their structure they are supposed to have an equal number of protons (nuclear particles) to electrons (circulating particles), which make them “stable.” For various reasons free radical molecules are missing an electron and now, like a thief in the night, they steal that missing electron from another molecule, wounding it so it can no longer function. Free radicals have a voracious appetite for electrons! They attack anything they can find: proteins, carbohydrates, fats and particularly DNA molecules. It is believed that this accumulated damage underlies many of our worst diseases: from arthritis to Alzheimers, disease, cancer, heart disease, aging, stroke, and diabetes …. In essence, biological aging is the accumulation of oxidative damage due to free radicals and at some point in your life you realize you are not longer as young as you used to be. And you begin to feel it!
While normal metabolism itself has always created some free radicals, the body, especially a young body, provides its own antioxidants to prevent lasting damage – at least for those young years. Eventually aging sets in and free radical damage accelerates. But what makes us, in our modern times, so susceptible to free radical damage, is just that: our modern way of life! Our environment adds a great deal of stress in the form of foreign particles to our bodies via air pollution, water pollution, cigarette smoke, radiation, heavy metals, and even exercise and the effects of the sun! Our diet, especially our fast-paced diet, is often a major cause of damage to the body. Additives in processed foods, food colorings, flavorings, chlorinated drinking water, carbonated drinks, and excess sugar consumption – all that can make you vulnerable to free radical damage.
How can you escape this downward spiral?
Fortunately we live in a world of polarity where there is an antidote to the “bad guys” of free radicals: antioxidants, the “good guys”! They move around your body as “donors.” They carry with them extra electrons that they freely give to the “thieves” and thus they neutralize and restore them so they cannot damage anymore. Our bodies, as I mentioned before, produce these antioxidants when we are young, but their production diminishes with age. For another source of antioxidants we look to what Mother Nature provides: fruits, vegetables, green tea, etc. have phytonutrients (phyto=plant) that act as antioxidants. Also Vitamins, C & E and beta-carotene have good antioxidant quality but there are new, much more powerful antioxidants on the market that provide many times the effectiveness of those vitamins combined. Thus, not all antioxidants are created equal: some neutralize only one type of free radical, others neutralize many; in other words, some use a shotgun approach and some a rifle approach. You may want to inform yourself so you can select what’s best for you.
Your desire for a longer and healthier life might also require you to adapt your lifestyle: eating foods that are close to nature versus being highly processed, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, preferably organic, drinking contaminant-free water, avoiding stress as best you can and getting restful sleep. Those who recognize the importance of antioxidants and incorporate them into their daily diet can reasonably expect to live longer and healthier lives. Antioxidants can at least slow down the aging process and delay the onset of chronic debilitating conditions that rob so many people of their youthful health and vitality.
Be informed and take good care of the body you live in and thereby increase your chances for getting closer to that elusive Fountain of Youth!
Sources:
Natural Eradication of Cancer, Article by Dr. Matthias Rath
Denham Harman – A Pioneer in Gerontology and Anti-Aging Research,
Article by John Colman
Inflammation Nation, by Floyd H. Chilton, Ph.D. with Laura Tucker
Time Magazine, February 23, 2004, The Secret Killer
Various Internet Articles
Britt Mittemeijer has a keen interest in health
and wellness for herself and others and is an
advocate of Mangosteen and its medicinal benefits. http://www.easyhealthandwellness.com
