subject: The Guideline to Aging and Free Radicals [print this page] Modern times show humans the unfolding of many of life's mysteries, including aging. This process of decay was often the subject of topic of most ancient civilizations who tried to find ways of getting around it. Countless people professing to be seers, magicians, and wise men tried to unlock the secret behind it, believing that discovering the discipline behind the weakening, both of living and non-living organisms would lead to a bank of other understandings about life, living and death. Modern science was able to do what past civilizations failed to understand. Thanks to recent discoveries, we are now able to enjoy and understand behind the process of decay that was kept hidden from hundreds of generations.
According to modern science, acting both as culprit and reason behind aging and decay are organic molecules known as free radicals. These molecules are very unstable and therefore look to bond with other molecules. The process destroys the target molecule's vigor and perpetuates the detrimental process, causing diseases, tissue damage and aging.
Free radicals were termed as such for they are considered free' because they float around until they stabilize, and radical' in the sense that they are surrounded by a myriad of molecules from which they can obtain an electron. These unstable molecules existed not having an even number of electrons and therefore are in constant search for extra electron they can "steal" to become stable. It must be properly noted that free radicals are like thieves and react quickly to the compounds around them.
The process of aging or decay starts when a free radical is able to take an electron from a healthy cell. Taking an electron from another molecule will cause it to become unstable, turning it into a free radical. Simply put, once a free radical steals an electron from a tissue, the latter turns into a free radical. This snowball effect can cause significant harm on healthy tissues.
Some free radicals arise normally during metabolism. Sometimes the body's immune system's cells purposefully create them to neutralize certain viruses and bacteria. Free radicals are caused by a number of factors that are part of everyday human living, hence posing a constant threat to people's lives. According to scientists, free radicals are products of pollution and other artificial substances that enter the body. Pollution, cigarette smoking, large volume of alcohol, radiation, preservatives found in some processed food and a number of poisons found in cleaners or herbicides and other everyday household products are found to be the primary substances that expose humans to these harmful molecules.
Truth be told, the body can handle free radicals under normal conditions. Damage occurs when antioxidants, molecules that neutralize free radicals by donating one of their own electrons, are unavailable, or if the free radical production becomes excessive.
