antioxidant hype

Health and nutrition experts have the wrong impression about free radicals and subsequent oxidation. The health community has been telling people forever that free radicals are bad for you. They say that free radicals damage cells and cause aging. Vitamin and Food companies have been cashing in on this for decades by making products to fight free radical oxidation using antioxidant-rich foods and supplements. When the truth is they’re only half right.

The whole truth is, the body actually relies on both free radical oxidation AND antioxidant reduction (aka “quenching”) as part of the natural detoxification and repair mechanisms. The two-sided oxidation and reduction cycle is an integral part of the body’s cleansing and recovery efforts. They cycle is called “redox”, which is short for “reduction” (the process of donating electrons) and “oxidation” (the process of stealing electrons). As long as this process is well-balanced, oxidation is beneficial and necessary to the body. It’s only when one side or the other becomes inappropriately elevated that your health diminishes, In other words, too much inflammation is bad for you because it causes a bunch of malfunction to occur in your body, like the inability of your immune system to detoxify properly.

Simply ingesting more anti-oxidants than you need is also bad for you, as is taking them at the wrong time, because pro-oxidant processes aren’t able to destroy pathogens and wipe out harmful things the way they should.

Vitamin C taken too close to the time you exercise actually defeats many of the benefits of exercise because  Vitamin C (a well known anti-oxidant) doesn’t allow much of the oxidative benefits of elevated heart rate and circulation to take place. During this time, Vitamin C suppresses the pathogen destroying effect that oxidation provides. The detoxification system needs to be “exercised” just like muscles do — periodically stressed in a beneficial way. Taking too many antioxidants, or at the wrong time, negate the periodic oxidative elevation that help keep the detox system functioning optimally. 

Bottom line: If you’re still sipping Quarantini’s and binging on Taco’s while watching Netflix, you need more of the systemic cleansing effect of oxidation. That means exercise. On the other hand, if you’re getting plenty of exercise, then you need a good supply of antioxidant foods or supplements at the right time. Too much of one and not enough of the other, and you health suffers. It’s all about balance.