Cause of Free Radicals - In this article I will address the cause in
Free Radicals.
No doubt you’ve heard the term “free radicals”! Understanding and
combating the action of free radicals is a vital step in avoiding
premature aging, premature death from major degenerative disease and for
maintaining healthy, clear and firm skin as you age.
Despite
the fact that they age us, free radicals are natural and play an
essential role in a healthy human body ! If you’ve every cut open an
apple and left it exposed to the air then you’ve seen free radicals at
work. They attack the apple and the skinless parts quickly turn brown as
they decompose. This is a process called
oxidation the very same
process that’s going on inside you with every breath you take.
Free
radicals are a class of molecules in your body. Unfortunately, as far
as aging is concerned, they are unstable. So, your body makes an effort
to balance the problem. To do this, the unstable molecule swipes a part
(an electron) from a neighboring stable molecule and so becomes stable.
But in a catch 22 situation the healthy molecule which lost an electron
now in turn becomes a free radical. Free Radicals can attack DNA,
leading to dysfunction, mutation, cancer and create the conditions for
the onset of debilitating degenerative diseases including heart disease.
Since many chemical reactions in your body inevitably
produce free radicals, their production is continuous and inescapable.
They’re not only inside you but outside as well. Twenty first century
living means your health is impacted by environmental and dietary toxins
and stressors every single day. Free radicals are one such example!
Now,
let’s look at the impact of free radicals on your skin. If you’re well
read you will no doubt be aware of the critical importance of
maintaining high levels of healthy collagen in your skin. But
free-radical attacks on your collagen cause cross-linking of protein
molecules which leads to stiffness in your tissue. As a result your skin
begins to lose it’s suppleness and tautness. Since collagen stays in
your skin for many years these free radical attacks continue and the
damage is cumulative- it builds up, up, up and your skin deteriorates
and ages more, more, more!
Since we can’t stop free
radicals completely, that leaves us with the option of managing their
numbers so as to reduce the destructive impact from oxidative stress on
your health. That’s where anti-oxidants come in. We all know that
anti-oxidants are the good guys because they ‘give up’ a spare electron
to the free radical thereby eliminating it! So, it seems obvious then
that we need to take lots of antioxidants into our bodies!
But
anti-oxidants
are not all equal. Some are really powerful while others are far
weaker. And it’s important to understand that there are different types
of free radicals in different parts of your body which can only be
neutralized by different
antioxidants. So, it makes sense to take
in a wide range of antioxidants so you have the dynamic synergistic
effects of a large network of antioxidants working throughout your body.
To be significantly more successful with your anti
aging efforts you should make sure to prioritize the most powerful
antioxidants into your daily nutritional intake. So, which are which?
The well known vitamin antioxidants, like Vitamin C and A, are fairly
weak (and cheap). Vitamin E is a well established exception – it’s a
potent antioxidant and crucial to skin health. There are numerous
antioxidants but the following 8 have been established as the MOST
POWERFUL:
- L-Glutathione
- CoQ10
- Grape Seed
- Green Tea
- Gingko Biloba
- Alpha Lipoic Acid
- Lutein
- Bilberry
The problem here however is that most of these are
either not present or exist only in insufficient quantities in our
diets. That’s why 21st century nutritional intakes must be supported
with a multi nutrient nutritional health supplement.
The
market’s most effective health supplement formulas contain ALL of these
powerful antioxidants. But commonly you’ll be lucky to find just two or
three of them in most multi vitamin or nutritional vitamin supplement
formulas. The type of nutritional supplements you use ultimately makes a
huge difference in the results you’ll get. If your budget allows you
should use science-based, premium grade health nutritional supplements
Now,
let’s relate this to your skin. As you have probably figured out, what
we are looking for is the inclusion of these strong antioxidants in skin
care formulas. This is a key point of difference between the most
effective anti aging skin care treatments and the less effective ones.
The antioxidants from our list above which are used in anti aging skin
care products are:
- CoQ10
- Grape Seed
- Green Tea
- Alpha Lipoic Acid
- Lutein
THREE KEY CRITERIA TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU PART WITH YOUR CASH
When comparing brands before buying you need to consider three crucial factors:
- Safety
- Effectiveness
- Price
There’s many nasty industry secrets that you absolutely need to know when it comes to skin care product safety!
When
looking at the 'effectiveness' angle of anti aging skin care
treatments, your most important task is to make sure a product contains
ingredients to address all three fundamental causes of skin aging.
For
starters you now know the most effective ingredients for treating one
of these causes – free radicals. In my next two posts I’ll discuss what
to look for in respect of the other two causes.
Finally, you have to consider the PRICE and VALUE FOR MONEY.
Are
you a savvy shopper who none-the-less has spent a small fortune over
the years yet failed to see any tangible and significant anti aging
benefits in your skin.
