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Posts Tagged ‘antioxidants’

Popular belief is that antioxidants prevent heart, Parkinson’s And Alzheimer’s Disease. Some research shows that too much may cause one of these dreaded diseases. It’s a very popular and believable theory, mainly because it makes sense. It has also given hope to many people in search of ways to enhance and extend their lives naturally. And let’s not forget, it’s profitable for many professionals. Patients regularly ask us at the chiropractic office at New Century Spine Centers in San Diego which supplements to take.

What we are referring to… of course… is the belief that taking antioxidants is good for you. Many believe they can prevent such diseases as heart, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Now a new study (published in the August 10th issue of Cell) sheds new light on this claim… and says that too much of a certain antioxidant may even cause heart disease.

To make sense of all this, let’s talk about… How Antioxidants Are Thought To Work… Heart, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other deadly diseases are associated with oxidative stress, in which “free radical” molecules are produced in reaction to oxygen intake. Free radicals travel the body, triggering chemical reactions that damage proteins causing them to form aggregates. It is believed that antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E (and many others), offer health-promoting benefits by protecting against damaging free radicals. That’s why many people take antioxidants to prevent heart and other protein-aggregate diseases.

A study was done on laboratory mice in the University of Utah. Researchers found that an overload of natural antioxidants could actually lead to heart failure. This study had some very important findings.

Excessive levels of reduced glutathione can cause reductive stress. Glutathione is one of your body’s most powerful antioxidants. When your cells work properly, they produce just the right amount of reduced glutathione. This is healthy for your body. In some people, a mutated gene can disrupt the fine balance. This causes the cells to produce too much glutathione.

In the study of laboratory mice with failing hearts caused by mutant alpha B-Crystallin, researchers found increased activity of the biochemical pathway leading to high levels of reduced glutathione in the animals. Glutathione is regulated at multiple steps principally by the G6PD enzyme. To establish the connection between reduced glutathione and heart failure, Benjamin mated mutant alpha B-Crystallin mice that carried too much G6PD with mice that had far lower levels.

The resulting offspring had normal levels of reduced glutathione and did not develop heart failure. The researchers found that by lowering the level of reduced glutathione in mice with failing hearts, they were able to increase their rate of survival dramatically. “Lowering the level of reduced glutathione dramatically changed the survival of these mice,” Benjamin said. “Basically, we prevented them from getting heart failure.” Benjamin also added that although many people take antioxidants to prevent heart and other protein-aggregate diseases, there actually is scant evidence to prove they work. And that, “This is a case of too much of a good thing.”

“This field of medicine has not appreciated reductive stress and its influence on disease,” he said. “This is about balance needed in the environment of our cells, and it can have profound consequences on the treatments of heart disease and other serious disorders.”

“Too Much Of A Good Thing?” This is a concept that is misunderstood by most of the population… and probably leads to many health problems. What concept? Most have a skewed concept of how the body functions and what… exactly… optimal performance… or… optimal health is.

Let’s consider performance for example. Many athletes are constantly trying to boost performance with supplementation and vitamins. Some use natural legal products. Some use other synthetic and possibly illegal substances such as anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. Some athletes take anabolic steroids to boost performance. These are steroids such as testosterone which help build muscle, strength and reduce recovery time. And they naturally occur in your body for these and many other purposes.

And naturally occurring steroids are good for you. So… if naturally occurring steroids do these good things for you – increasing their levels will do more good things for you. And it is true – athletes that take the right steroids, increase their athletic performance. And increase it a great deal.

However, this is not considered to be OPTIMAL performance. This is a PATHOLOGICAL performance. Here is why. Optimal performance is when your body is functioning at the highest level for your given genetic potential. Anything beyond that is considered abnormal. It is considered to be pathological.

It’s the same “too much of a good thing” Dr. Benjamin is referring to above. And, it’s the same as far as antioxidants are concerned. It makes complete sense that the proper level of antioxidants is good for you. And they probably help fight disease such as heart, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Too many approach the use of natural supplements like the athlete approaches the use of steroids. If a little is good – a lot is better. Know this: There is a perfect balance in your body where everything functions at 100% of your genetic potential. More is not better – it is worse. And as the study mentioned in this article demonstrated, too much of a good thing can be…Poison!

This is why choosing and taking supplements (of any kind) is much more involved than going into GNC and aimlessly picking a bunch that are popular or sound good. The old (and uneducated) belief that supplements can’t hurt you because they are natural is bologna. Snake venom is natural. So is mercury. Some of the most dangerous substances in the world are natural. The supplements you take should depend on your diet and particular needs. Clearly, it’s all about finding YOUR perfect balance. To find out more, visit New Century Spine Centers in San Diego.

Looking to find the best information on headaches, then visit www.backcaretreatment.com to find the best advice on chiropractic care for you.

There are too many green tea benefits to outline in one article, but let’s take a look at some of the most important ones in this article. About 4,000 years ago, green tea was first used by by the Chinese, and since then modern science has uncovered many more green tea benefits. So of the benefits of drinking green tea include in helping infection, cancer, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and high cholesterol levels.

There are many active ingredients in green tea that make it so special. In simple terms, green tea has many antioxidants that help in stopping the growth of cancer cells, and another benefit is that these antioxidants also stop blood clots forming. These particular antioxidants in green tea are great because they only target bad cells, and leave the good cells alone.

Green tea health benefits have normally been related to the French paradox, or the health benefits of drinking red wine. As with tea, red wine has polyphenols and antioxidants that are very beneficial to the heart. However epigallocatechin gallate has been found to be much more powerful than the polyphenols found in red wine.

One of the most recent discoveries is that green tea may actually help in weight loss because drinking green tea actually increases your metabolism, helping you burn more calories, which in turn helps you lose more weight. Some other benefits of green tea include the killing of bacteria that cause teeth decay, and other things that when applied topically as a cream are good for your skin.

The only thing that might stop you from drinking tea is that it contains caffeine, and if you drink too much caffeine, you might have trouble sleeping at night. This would be the only negative side effect when drinking green tea, so drink it in moderation if this is a problem for you. Whether you drink 1 cup a day or more, it is much better than not drinking green tea at all.

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