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| Health Info
» Free Radicals |
What
are Free Radicals?
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Free
radicals are highly reactive
and unstable compounds
created in the body during
normal metabolic functions
and also from our
environment and unhealthy
lifestyle choices. They
react with certain chemicals
in the body and interfere
with cells ability to
function optimally.
When a free radical enters
your body, it is attracted
to the cells that make up
the different tissues of it
just like a magnet to metal.
It then bonds to parts of
the cell, which causes it to
deteriorate in a way similar
to that which oxygen causes
metal to rust. If the cell
gets damaged enough, it
dies. Worse yet, if the cell
DNA is damaged and then the
cell reproduces, it
reproduces abnormally as a
result. When this happens to
our skin, we get wrinkles;
when it happens to our
oxygen carrying blood
vessels, we get hardening of
the arteries; when it
happens to our joints, we
get arthritis; in some
people - if it happens
enough - they may even get
cancer.
Antioxidants work by bonding
with the free radical before
it can bond to the cells of
your body, thus neutralizing
it. This now harmless
substance is then
deconstructed or merely
excreted.
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