This is the archive for September 2005
What are free radicals ?
What are free radicals ?
We have from 80 to 100 trillion cells in our body that have to be fed and looked after. Each cell contains many atoms and proteins needed for the cell to function properly.
In this picture of an atom there is a nucleus made up of protons (which are positively charged) and neutrons which have no charge. Buzzing around the nucleus are five electrons (which are negatively charged).
Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with an odd (unpaired) number of electrons and can be formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. This particular atom has 5 electrons so it has unpaired electrons and is in fact a free radical. Because it is electrically unbalanced this atom will either 'be looking' to steal one electron from another atom or it could lose another electron to another passing atom. Once formed these highly reactive radicals can start a chain reaction, like dominoes. Their chief danger comes from the damage they can do when they react with important cellular components such as DNA, or the cell membrane (this is the outer skin of a cell that holds the cell together). Cells may function poorly or die if this occurs.
Here is a very disturbing fact. If our body, over time, creates too many free radicals, then the aging process will speed up as well as leaving us open to the seven deadly diseases of modern times.
The good news is that nature has a solution to combat these free radicals. Your immune system automatically creates substances called "ANTI-OXIDANTS" which get rid of these free radicals. These anti-oxidants are contained in the vitamins in the food we eat - or they used to be !!
REMEDY = Take quality nutritional supplements on a regular basis !
Please click here and then click on 'Men's Health' or 'Women's Health' for your quality nutritional supplements.
Why isn't our food good enough anymore ?
This is a first of a series of articles on your health.
Why isn't our normal food good enough any more ? Since artificial fertilizers started to be used some 60 years ago the natural minerals in world wide soils have been seriously depleted. To best realize what has happened here is an article written by a prominent nutritional scientist in the USA.
Until the 1940's, farmers returned essential nutrients to the soil by mulching, manuring and crop rotation. At the end of World War II, drug conglomerates making nitrates and phosphates for weapons were left with few buyers for their stockpiles of chemicals. They had to find new markets for their products. Earlier experiments had shown that many plants will grow on a mixture of just three minerals, nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and potassium (K).
Armed with this knowledge, war chemical manufacturers began selling NPK fertilizers to farmers at attractive prices that made traditional soil enrichment methods uneconomical. By the 60's, in order to compete in the food market, almost all American farms had become totally dependent on NPK products in order to make a living. Mixtures of NPK, provide three of the main minerals essential for plant health. They grow fine-looking crops with abundant yields. But your body is not a vegetable. Humans need more than nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. They need selenium, chromium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, iodine, molybdenum, zinc, cobalt, boron and vanadium. NPK fertilizers do not contain the minerals essential for human health, because they were never designed for human nutrition. As each succeeding crop grown on NPK products has depleted the soil of other essential minerals, and these minerals are no longer replaced. Most produce and food animals now grown in America, have become "mineral deficient". And it's the same in the rest of the world. Farmers have been top dressing their paddocks and crop fields with NPK. So that the vegetables and meat that we eat are seriously depleted in minerals.
Please see our Nutritional Supplements Category in the right column to supplement your diet to stay healthy.
The 7 deadly diseases of modern times - #1 Heart Disease.
PUBLIC ENEMY #1: HEART DISEASE is quite a new disease. The first modern cases of it were only reported in 1915, which was extremely rare at that time. How did it go from rare to the number one killer of today ?
Heart disease kills millions of people worldwide every year. This equates to one death every 35 seconds. It's an epidemic ! 58 million people in North America have it right now ! That equates to 1 in every 3 adults.
OK but what is Heart Disease ?
It's not a disease you catch like a virus.
It's a disease you eat !
Eating the wrong diet causes plaque to slowly clog up your arteries, stopping the flow of oxygen and nutrients to your heart muscles. When these arteries finally plug up, you have a heart attack. You get no warning that this "clogging of the arteries" is happening, until the day you have the heart attack !
How can we prevent a heart attack ?
By ensuring your body gets sufficient antioxidants by taking nutritional supplements to prevent 'free radicals' !
Please see Nutritional Supplements under Categories in the right column.
See Article #3 to learn what free radicals are !