We may not always take the time to appreciate our health and energy. But every day, our bodies perform incredible balancing acts to boost both our well-being and our energy levels, to keep us alive and keep us healthy. As part of those efforts, our cells produce waste products and those include free radicals. Normally, free radicals are part of the body’s balancing act. When they are out of balance, though, unstable free radicals can wreak havoc, raising the risk of many dangerous diseases.
Free radicals behave like invisible, sneaky thieves in our bodies. They are produced as a normal waste byproduct in our mitochondria, the tiny energy powerhouses within our cells. When molecules divide into single atoms with electrons that lack partners, those atoms are called free radicals.
Electrons prefer to be paired. To find a match, the free radicals search our bodies to steal electrons from healthy molecules. The free radicals either bond with those electrons to form a new molecule or break down the existing molecule into more free radicals in a domino effect.
Unstable free radicals continue this chain reaction which is known as oxidation.
Free radicals may harm our DNA, cell membranes, and other cell parts through the oxidation process. Oxidative damage is another name for free radical damage.
Normally, the production of free radicals is in balance with antioxidants in our bodies and we stay healthy as a result. Sometimes, though, free radicals overwhelm the natural balance. When that happens, we refer to the imbalance as oxidative stress.
Our bodies naturally produce free radicals through metabolism and immune system efforts. When we experience oxidative stress, free radical production may have been increased based on:
Free radical damage may affect our bodies in multiple ways. Let's look deeper.
Because of oxidative stress, our bodies may have problems fighting free radicals, resulting in cell damage. When free radicals become unbalanced, we may experience:
Controlling the balance of free radicals with antioxidants may help us slow and control the damage. The food that we eat and the beverages we drink are key to this balance. That’s why our intake of sugar can make (or break) our well-being. How Does Sugar In Our Diet Cause Free Radicals?
Remember the mitochondria, our energy powerhouses? Mitochondria use glucose to create energy, with free radicals occurring as a part of that process.
Consuming sugary foods and drinks affects the liver, which plays a major role in detoxification.
When the liver has to detoxify the body from excess sugar, inflammation results. The boost of glucose puts the mitochondria into overdrive, producing more free radicals. That increased production affects the balance between antioxidants and free radicals that our bodies need for optimal health.
Over time, a diet high in sugar also causes the insulin in our bodies to decrease. This further increases mitochondrial function, skewing the free radical imbalance even more. And then our livers become overloaded.
A recent study focused on showing exactly how too much sugar increases the body’s production of free radicals. Study participants who drank an amount of sugar water equal to two cans of cola experienced more than twice as much free radical generation after two hours than the control group.
Researchers also investigated how that free radical production affected antioxidant levels. They discovered that participants’ levels of the antioxidant a-tocopherol (the active form of vitamin E) decreased by the second hour and stayed lowered in the third hour.
We should also take seriously that damage resulting from the free radical imbalance may cause plaque to accumulate, according to the study. That plaque can result in cardiovascular disease.
As demonstrated by the study, diet plays a key role in the body’s balancing act. The research showed that reducing sugar intake may offer one of the best ways to combat free radicals.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends limiting our consumption of sugar to:
To put this into perspective, a regular Coke contains almost 10 teaspoons of sugar.
Reading the nutrition labels of processed foods may help us to reduce our sugar consumption. Sugar is added to many types of food, including soft drinks, candy, yogurt, cereal, fruit drinks, and even some salad dressings. Processed food often contains sugar, too. Yes, even if it's savory.
Boosting our consumption of foods high in antioxidants may also help to combat free radicals. These foods include:
Other ways to combat free radicals include:
Remember that free radicals are a normal part of our bodies’ systems and we won't ever be able to remove them entirely — nor do we want to. But we do have the ability to lower the risks of free radical imbalance through our diets and behaviors.
Reducing our sugar intake may play a key role in helping us to combat free radicals. And achieving that goal can be surprisingly simple. By choosing a bottle of water instead of soda, we can reduce our sugar intake instantly!
In addition to a low-sugar diet, we can empower ourselves to combat free radicals through lifestyle changes. A healthy diet, regular exercise, and enough sleep may all help restore our body’s balance between free radicals and antioxidants.
Copyright 2020, Wellness.com