Do you know if your antioxidants are working?

Older folks who thrive generally have low free radical (oxidation) levels. Though lifestyle is certainly important, genetics play a huge role in their free radical levels.

by Dr. Mark Force — 

Your body, in every moment of life, produces compounds that can damage cell walls, tiny organs (organelles) and even the nucleus in every cell in your body. These compounds, called oxidants or free radicals, are byproducts of energy-producing cells. The only way to stop the production of these dangerous compounds is for your cells to stop producing energy. Obviously this is not possible; however, when controlled by antioxidants, the damage caused by free radicals is miniscule, even with advanced age.

Want to know the secret to longevity and lifelong vitality: controlled free radicals (low oxidation levels). This is not simply an opinion, but a fact; it has been proven over and over again with stacks of respected research papers.

Older folks who thrive generally have low free radical (oxidation) levels. Though lifestyle is certainly important, genetics play a huge role in their free radical levels. If you have the genetics (you will know because your parents will have been very healthy into their advanced age), consider yourself lucky. Your parents may have smoked, over-eaten, abused alcohol and/or broken other good and healthy lifestyle habits and gotten away with it, for the most part.

“Cheating” too much always compromises what you could be. Still, you can optimize your genetic leaning by measuring your free radical levels and keeping them at their lowest possible levels through dietary and lifestyle changes and supplementing antioxidant nutrients.

Those of us with less than stellar genetics have to be extra careful and work extra hard to keep our free radicals under control. The first step is to practically measure our oxidation levels and improve the effectiveness of our diet with supplements. The Oxidata urine test (oxidata.com) is a great tool for this. It is simple, inexpensive, accurate and allows us to monitor and fine tune our program to get rid of those nasty free radicals.

The Oxidata test can be run as an in-office or home test. Using the test over time will allow you to determine which dietary and nutritional supplement program actually works to help you control oxidation and protect your long-term health.

What kinds of antioxidants should you be using in your diet? Eating more fruits and vegetables, especially raw, is fundamental. Freshly made juices, especially vegetable juices, also are beneficial. You can find many good supplemental antioxidant formulas on the market. The important thing is to determine one or more antioxidants that work best for you.

Mark Force, D.C., is a chiropractic physician at The Elements of Health in north Scottsdale, Ariz., and the author of Choosing Health: Dr. Force’s Functional Selfcare Workbook. 480-563-4256 or theelementsofhealth.com.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 25, Number 1, February/March 2006.