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 is the belief that taking antioxidants is good for you.  Many believe they can prevent such diseases as heart, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.  A study published in the August 10th issue of Cell sheds new light on this claim. It says that too much of a certain antioxidant may even cause heart disease in the long run.

Understanding how antioxidants are thought to work is very important. 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 through the body, triggering chemical reactions that damage proteins causing them to form aggregates. It is believed that antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E offer health-promoting benefits by protecting against damaging free radicals that damage the body. That’s why many people take antioxidants to prevent heart and other protein-aggregate diseases in many.

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.

There was a study done with 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. It is primarily regulated by the G6PD enzyme. To establish the connection between reduced glutathione and heart failure, the researchers 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 get 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. The researchers stated that basically they prevented them from getting heart failure. The researchers 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.

This field of medicine has not appreciated reductive stress and its influence on disease. This is about balance needed in the environment of the cells in our body. It can have profound consequences on the treatment of heart disease and other grave disorders.

This just shows how too much of a good thing can possibly be a bad thing. This is a concept that is misunderstood by most of the population. This probably leads to many health problems in many individuals. Many have a skewed concept of how the body functions and what exactly optimal performance or optimal health truly 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.

Naturally occurring steroids are also good for you.  If naturally occurring steroids do these good things for you, logic has it that increasing their levels will do more good things for you. And it is true in many instances. Athletes that take the right steroids, increase their athletic performance.  And it increases 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 old saying that too much of a good thing may be bad for you. And, it’s the same as far as antioxidants are concerned as well. 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.  But too much can be bad.

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! 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.

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.

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Tags: antioxidants, chiropractic, chiropractor, diet, disease, growth hormone, health, medical, medication, natural, new century, nutrition, pills, steroids, vitamins

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Health, Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.