in pace, ut sapiens, aptarit idonea bello

As I’m sure, dear reader, you would have noticed, my articles are not stand alone pieces, but seem to weave a web of interconnecting strands, each supporting one another. This is not by design, well not mine anyway. This is just the way the Universe is, whether it developed this property via an emergent process or an intelligent hand reached in and laid out the steps for a divine plan, we don’t know for sure. All we can tell from our limited perspective is that we’re here (maybe?) and ‘everything links’.

Luckily this Universal interconnection makes my focus here easier, as I can…ummm…I don’t like the phrase ‘kill two birds with one stone’, so I’ll use ‘feed two birds with one scone’.

The previous few articles have focused on telomeres and their significant role in ageing and disease. In this article I’m going to begin to show you how to limit the oxidative stress that causes Telomere shortening. Bear in mind, that by ‘feeding’ the Telomere ‘bird’, you’ll also be ‘feeding’ a whole flock of ‘birds’. We’ll look at these in individual articles; here we will lay a firm foundation so that our subsequent building of knowledge is robust.

In the last article we discovered that uncontrolled or excessive oxidation was the primary factor in ageing. In order to control oxidation and help reset the balance we need a way to restrain this vital but potentially deleterious process. This is where antioxidants step up to the plate and hit a home run.

As I stated in the last article, left to run wild free radicals would kill you with rabid fervor. The reason this isn’t a commonplace sight is that our body’s produce endogenous antioxidants. The primary endogenous antioxidants are Glutathione, Superoxide Dismutase and Catalase. These antioxidants neutralise the free radicals by donating or receiving an electron. Astute readers remembering the last article would surmise that this would turn the antioxidant into a free radical itself. You would be spot on, however, the free radicals produced from this reaction are of a less damaging form, and they are subsequently neutralised by other antioxidants. This chain continues until the by-products are relatively harmless carbon dioxide and water.

Endogenous antioxidants do a great job in reducing your oxidative burden, and would probably be all we need if we lived in a world specifically designed for Humans. Despite many peoples delusion that this is indeed the case (Sorry ‘Snowflake’, despite what Mummy and Daddy told you, you are neither innately special nor the centre of the Universe), the world is indeed a dangerous environment, and in some ways getting more hazardous due to the arrogant machinations of man.

Many factors affect your oxidative status, such as your level of bodyweight, or the amount of physical activity you perform, and increasingly the amount of environmental pollution to which you are exposed. These factors combine to overburden our inbuilt defences leaving us prey to not only oxidative damage, but due to the interrelationship between oxidation and our immunity, a whole host of pathogens, viruses and bacteria.

In this light, we can see that our endogenous antioxidants are not sufficient to protect us from a myriad of perils. Step up to the plate ‘Star Batter’ number two; Nutrient antioxidants. You may have heard of one or two of these, such as Vitamin C or Zinc, and also probably seen the popular media or commerce pushing singular antioxidants as panacea’s of health. If only it was that simple. Never, ever, take single nutrients, especially in large doses.

First, as we saw above, by neutralising free radicals, antioxidants themselves become free radicals, which also need to be neutralised. Instead of reducing oxidation, single antioxidants increase free radical levels.

Second, free radicals come in all shapes and sizes, each individual type of free radical is best neutralised by a particular antioxidant, which is then disarmed by it’s own particular chain of antioxidant reactions.

These two factors alone demonstrate the need for a wide-spectrum antioxidant mix, so that all bases are covered. Then there’s the wrinkle that certain antioxidants can only work in particular structures in your body. It’s no good taking a particular antioxidant that in a lab has been shown to neutralise a particular free radical strongly, if it can’t access the part of your body where that free radical exists.

It’s a complicated lot, but the research has been accruing for well over half a century now, so we are getting closer to a complete picture. For now the most pertinent advice I can provide to reduce your oxidative burden is the following:

- Don’t smoke or associate with smokers.

- Eat a wide variety of vegetables and fruit.

- Eat high quality protein every meal

- Eat a diet high in Essential Fatty Acids and low in partially hydrogenated- and trans-fats

- Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes per day including resistance exercise

- Eat a low-sugar diet

- Keep bodyfat below 15% for males, 20% for females.

- Eat a low-acid diet.

- Eat a minimum of 30-40 grams of fiber daily.

- Leave high stress situations. Be a proper Brit’ ‘Keep calm and carry on’.

As we continue this series on ageing and disease prevention, we will look at the particular antioxidants that are most beneficial for each individual condition. Bear in mind, as suggested at the beginning of this article, there is considerable overlap. So, it’s not the arduous task it seems to protect yourself against the major degenerative diseases plaguing Humanity at present, it’s merely a case of selecting the right recipe for your scone.