Free Radicals and Antioxidants

What are Free Radicals?

A free radical is an atom which has an odd number of electrons in its outer ring. In other words, it is imbalanced, chemically.

Due to this chemical imbalance, these unstable molecules (oxidants) are produced when your body breaks down food or by environmental exposure to things like tobacco smoke, radiation, pollution, stress and herbicides.

It is partially responsible for aging, tissue damage and some diseases.

Here is the problem: These molecules do not have an even number of electrons, so they are always searching for an extra electron which they can "partner" with (steal from) to once again become stable, chemically.

However, the damage doesn't stop there, as the new molecule, say a piece of a cell wall, is now also missing an electron and has become another free radical.

This snowball effect can wreak havoc on healthy tissue.

The human body is composed of many different types of cells joined together by chemical bonds.

Numerous atoms form a molecule.Numerous molecules form a cell.Numerous cells form tissue.Numerous tissues form an organ.

Atoms-->Molecules-->Cells-->Tissue-->Organs

Atoms consist of a nucleus at their center, neutrons, protons and electrons.

Protons are positively charged particles in the atom's nucleus. Electrons are negatively charged particles which surround the nucleus. In Chemistry, the number of protons in the atom's nucleus determines the number of electrons.

Electrons are involved in chemical reactions and are the substance that bonds atoms together to form molecules. Electrons orbit around an atom in varying numbers of shells depending upon the substance.

The shell closest to the nucleus is full (stable) when it has two electrons. When the first shell becomes full, the excess electrons begin to populate the second shell. When the second shell is full, excess electrons move into a third shell. This repeats until each respective shell is full and therefore, stable.

The number of electrons in the outer shell of an atom determine its chemical behavior.

When any substance has a full outer shell of electrons, it is stable and does not usually enter into additional chemical reactions.

Atoms attempt to reach and maintain a state of maximum stability, an atom will try to fill its outer shell by:

• Gaining or losing electrons so that its outer shell has a complete 8 electrons or empty it completely.


• Bonding with other atoms in order to share its own electrons with other atoms to complete its outer shell

The sharing of electrons in their outer shells with other atoms creates stability for both atoms.

When atoms share electrons, they are bound together. This satisfies both molecules' need for maximum stability.

Normally, these bonds split evenly without leaving a molecule with a single, unpaired electron. However when weaker bonds split, free radicals are formed.

This creates an unbalanced (unstable) molecule which continually attempts to restabilize itself to rebalance the electrons in its shell. It does this by "stealing" an extra electron from another nearby (stable) compound.

The first molecule now becomes stable once again, but when the second molecule (which lost its electron to the first unstable molecule), it now becomes chemically unstable.

As this happens over and over, cell damage occurs.

Just like a banana that slowly turns brown, or when our car's paint turns a whitish color after too much exposure to the hot sun, our bodies, too, deteriorate (become oxidated) over time due to an excess number of free radicals.

Oxidative stress has been linked to diseases such as Parkinson's, Autism, Diabetes, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Rheumatoid Arthritis, cancer and many other diseases.

There are many antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and many other nutrients which have been found to protect our body's cells from the destructive effects of these unbalanced molecules.

Antioxidants have an extra electron, which they donate to free radical molecules, thus ending the constant and damaging electron-stealing process.

Antioxidants act like scavengers. In so doing, they help prevent cell damage and resultant tissue damage that can lead to diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure and even cancer.

Where Do We Find Antioxidants?

Antioxidants are found in many foods. They provide an extra electron which rebalances unstable cells which prevent free radicals from harming healthy tissue in our bodies.

Fruits and Vegetables are needed to help fight diseases and premature aging.

A balanced diet includes 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

There are many foods we can consume that are very high in antioxidants. Dark chocolate, for instance, with unprocessed cacao has one of the highest ORAC Values of all antioxidants.

Do you like dark chocolate? Good news! They have found that dark chocolate , (an antioxidant) is very good for you. Dark chocolate is different from milk chocolate because it is rich with antioxidants.

So, take a walk through the fruit and vegetable aisle in the grocery store. Choose fresh fruits and vegetables that are high in antioxidants and help your body reduce the oxidative damage caused by these unbalanced cells.

By eating your fruits and veggies, you will give free radicals what they want,... an extra electron!

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