AVERY’S FAQ SERIES
Introduction
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As
incredible as it might sound, it's true: Antioxidant nutrients
can reduce your risk of developing more than eighty diseases,
including heart disease, arthritis, and cancer; and can help slow the aging process.
Why
are antioxidants so important? You probably know that people are
more likely to develop degenerative diseases as they age. These diseases are
caused by, or aggravated by, harmful chemical reactions that take place in the body.
The process is inevitable—in fact, these
same chemical reactions are what make
us age. However, the good news is that
these chemical reactions can be slowed, so these diseases are delayed for many, many years. For many people, the effects of these chemical
reactions can even be reversed,
enabling you to feel better and
healthier than you have in years. The miracle workers in this process are called antioxidant nutrients, and All About
Antioxidants explains how you
can use antioxidant nutrients to feel healthier.
Antioxidants can reduce
your likelihood of developing a multitude of
deadly diseases, such as cancer, heart
disease, and premature aging. Antioxidants
work by destroying harmful chemicals
in the body called "free radicals." These free radicals are the culprits in many diseases. Quite
simply, antioxidants neutralize
them. Knowing how to use specific antioxidants in the right combination can bolster your protection against free
radicals.
Although
antioxidant nutrients are in the news almost weekly now, I was the first scientist to describe them in consumer magazine articles about
my research in 1971. I didn't invent
or discover antioxidants, but I was
the first scientist to demonstrate antioxidant synergism—that is, that antioxidants work together—and that a practical combination of antioxidant nutrients could extend the
life spans of laboratory animals and prevent cancer. Today, we have numerous clinical studies that verify that this same protection applies to humans as
well. The history of research on
free radicals and antioxidants
actually goes back to 1954 with Denham Harman, M.D., Ph.D. Now, more than
forty years later, the evidence is
unequivocal. The "take-home
message" of this book is that you can immediately put these forty-plus years of research to your benefit now.
Do
you need antioxidants? Among the diseases linked to excess free
radicals are:
• Aging.
• Cancers.
• Coronary
heart disease.
• Autoimmune
diseases.
• Rheumatoid
arthritis.
• Alzheimer's
disease.
• Cataracts.
• Parkinson's
disease.
If
you are at risk for developing these diseases or have a family
history of any one of them antioxidant supplementation can give you an edge and help prevent, reduce the severity of, or delay the
appearance of these and many other
diseases. In fact, one study found
that the United States healthcare system could save $8.7 billion annually from
reduced hospitalizations if Americans consumed optimal levels of antioxidant vitamins C and E, plus beta-carotene. The five-year savings would exceed $45 billion. At a time when the American healthcare
system is nearly bankrupt, you would think that
people would start paying attention.
As
good as single antioxidants may be, one antioxidant alone cannot fully protect
you against the many different types of free radicals. However, a balanced team of antioxidant
nutrients very effectively helps protect against free-radical damage and thus
helps protect you from the different diseases associated with
free radicals. By the time you finish reading this book, you'll
have a good idea of which antioxidants you should be taking.
1.
The Basics of Antioxidants
What
exactly are antioxidants? What are free radicals? And how do they
affect your health? In this chapter, I answer many of these basic
questions. Generally speaking, antioxidants are good for your health,
and free radicals are bad. Although antioxidants are abundant
in fruits and vegetables, most people do not eat many of these foods and
therefore lack sufficient antioxidants. As a consequence, supplementing with antioxidant capsules or tablets becomes very important.
Q. What is an antioxidant?
A.
It might sound funny to hear that an "anti-something" is good for you. Quite
simply, an antioxidant is a substance that protects your body and other objects from a process
called oxidation.
The best
explanation is to think about why iron turns
rusty or butter becomes rancid. Oxygen, which is essential for life, is a very volatile and reactive element. It reacts with iron to form rust,
and it also reacts with the fats in
butter to oxidize them and to make
them rancid. A similar process occurs in
your body. As you get older, more oxidation occurs—in a sense, it makes your
body rusty. Anything that prevents or
slows the oxidation process is
called an antioxidant. Basically, an antioxidant protects other compounds against oxygen.
Your
body produces some antioxidants (called endogenous antioxidants),
but you must obtain others (exogenous antioxidants) from the diet. In fact, some
antioxidants, such as vitamins E and C, are absolutely essential for
life. The endogenous antioxidants are usually enzymes, coenzymes,
and sulfur-containing compounds, such as glutathione. The exogenous,
or dietary, antioxidants include vitamins such as vitamins C and E,
bioflavonoids, carotenoids, and several sulfur-containing
compounds.
Q. What is a free radical?
A.
Free radicals can be bad for your health. Quite simply, free radicals
are the bad guys that harm you, and antioxidants
are the good guys that protect you.
Want
a slightly more technical explanation? As you probably remember from your
science classes, the basic or smallest building blocks of chemical elements
are called atoms. An atom consists of a nucleus that contains
subatomic particles, such as protons and neutrons. Normally,
pairs of electrons orbit the nucleus, kind of like planets around
the sun. Molecules consist of groups atoms held together by the
actions of these pairs of electrons. Sometimes during chemical
reactions, an electron will be pulled away from the rest of the
molecule, creating a free radical. Essentially, a free radical
is an unpaired electron. Free radicals are highly
volatile and reactive, and they seek out another electron to make a new pair.
Free radicals cause damage when they pull electrons from normal
cells of the body.
Q, What qualifies a nutrient to be called an
antioxidant?
A. To be considered an
antioxidant, a substance must quench free
radicals by donating electrons, and a
little bit of the substance must go a long way. In other words, a few molecules of an antioxidant must protect many, many molecules.
Among the antioxidants
our bodies make are the enzymes catalase,
glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide
dismutase (SOD). However, these are not sufficient, and we must obtain others
from the diet. Some of the dietary
antioxidants include vitamin A and especially the related carotenoid family of
compounds, vitamin C, and vitamin E. Minerals are not by themselves antioxidants, but several minerals can become vital components of antioxidant enzymes
made by the body. These minerals include selenium,
which is needed to make the glutathione peroxidases; iron, which is
needed for catalase; and manganese, copper,
and zinc, which are needed for SOD.
Sulfur compounds, such as the sulfur-containing amino acids cysteine and
methionine, help the body produce the
most ubiquitous antioxidant within
cells, glutathione. Antioxidant coenzymes, such as NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), coenzyme Q10, and alphalipoic acid, are made by the body and obtained through the diet.
Q. What do the endogenous antioxidants
do?
A.
The antioxidants your body makes have very specific roles. Many of
them are enzymes or coenzymes, which catalyze reactions in the
body. The most called-upon
endogenous antioxidant is glutathione, which is the primary antioxidant protector within
your body's cells. Glutathione is a small sulfur-containing
compound that teams up with selenium-containing enzymes called
glutathione peroxidases. Other heavy-duty
endogenous antioxidants are the
superoxide dismutases. One type of SOD contains the minerals copper and zinc, while another type contains the mineral manganese. SODs specifically
break up a harmful form of oxygen called superoxide
into hydrogen peroxide. While hydrogen peroxide
can damage cell components, it is not as destructive as superoxide. Another endogenous antioxidant called catalase contains the mineral
iron. Catalase breaks down hydrogen peroxide into water. The selenium-containing glutathione peroxidases can also convert hydrogen peroxide into water.
Q. What do the exogenous, or dietary, antioxidants
do?
A.
The exogenous antioxidant nutrients are broader in their
protective actions. For example, vitamin E resides in fat-containing body
components, such as cell membranes and lipoproteins (such as cholesterol),
and protects against many different types of oxidants. Vitamin C
is the most important antioxidant in the bloodstream. Vitamin E is
called a fat-soluble vitamin because it is compatible with fats, whereas
vitamin C is called a water-soluble vitamin because it is compatible
with water. Any of these individual antioxidants are beneficial
to health. But they offer greater benefits when taken as a group. This
is a key point I'll come back to over and over again in this book.
Q. How were the many health benefits of
antioxidant nutrients discovered?
A.
Vitamin E was once believed to be a vitamin without deficiency
symptoms. It was known to be a powerful natural antioxidant, but no
one could figure out how it worked in the body. It did not appear to
be involved in enzymatic reactions or to be incorporated
into structural components. This vitamin was a mystery that caused
many nutritionists to be skeptical that it was indeed essential for humans. Little
more was known about it, other than that it was required for the birth
of animals. Without vitamin E, laboratory animals would resorb the fetuses before
birth.
Thanks
to the research on antioxidants and their effects on aging and
cancer, scientists began looking at many of the nutrients
anew in terms of their antioxidant
activities. Studies of antioxidants' effects on the aging
process led to the discovery that antioxidant nutrients offered protection against
cancer. As an example, I presented my
research on antioxidant synergism and life extension of laboratory animals at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society in 1970. Some scientists
felt that life expectancy was not
directly extended, but that it was
indirectly extended by preventing or delaying
diseases, such as cancer. This was an interesting concept and my later studies established that this was
indeed part of the explanation of the improved
life spans.
Later,
scientists began studying the incidence of various diseases among
groups of people in relation to their intakes of dietary
antioxidant nutrients. When I studied the incidence of heart
disease in relation to intake of dietary vitamin E, I found that
the more vitamin E consumed and the longer that those
higher amounts were consumed, the more the incidence of heart disease
decreased. Gladys Block, Ph.D., of the University of California
conducted several studies in which she found that vitamin C and
carotenoids were associated with reduced risk of several cancers.
In 1993, Harvard researchers published studies showing that vitamin
E supplements taken for more than two years were associated
with reduced incidence of heart disease.
As
people began taking more antioxidant supplements, they reported
improvements in conditions ranging from menopause to
arthritis. These reports, coupled with the development of plausible theoretical
explanations, encouraged more scientists to investigate the
possible relationships. Eventually, scientists felt
sufficiently comfortable to study the relationship of antioxidants
and the incidence of Alzheimer's disease, cataracts, and other disorders.
Q. What are some of the most common antioxidant
nutrients?
A. The best known ones
are probably vitamins C and E.
Beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene are part of the family of antioxidant
carotenoids, found in fruits and vegetables. Flavonoids, another group of antioxidant nutrients, are also found in fruits
and vegetables. Selenium, an
essential mineral, is necessary for
the body to produce glutathione peroxidase,
another antioxidant. Some antioxidants, such as coenzyme Q10 and alphalipoic acid, are found in foods and also produced by the body.
Q. Which is the best antioxidant?
A. When people start
debating which antioxidant is most important
or powerful, they are missing the idea that antioxidants work together in
concert. It is like arguing which
link in a chain is most important.
The chain is as strong as its weakest link. The same is true with antioxidants. There are reasons for this. Different antioxidants protect against
different types of free radicals in
different parts of cells and in different places in the body. In addition,
antioxidants help each other like
members of a sports team. This is
what I mean by antioxidant syner-gism—the
sum is greater than the parts.
Q. Would you explain more about antioxidant
synergism?
A.
I coined the term in the mid-1960s to explain what I was seeing in my
laboratory experiments, and it later became the focus of my
1970 and 1972 patent applications. Essentially, antioxidant synergism
is when the effects of combining antioxidants are greater than you
would expect from adding up the effects of all the antioxidants
individually. This
concept has become important in nutrition
to establish the teamwork effects of nutrients in general,
but especially of antioxidants. Antioxidants should not be
thought of as individual compounds. They should be thought of as complementary
players on a team, or in the way that individual instruments
form an orchestra. Doesn't a fifty-piece ensemble of various
woodwinds, brass, and strings sound better than a fifty-piece ensemble of snare
drums? Don't you think that a baseball team consisting of
various infielders, outfielders, pitchers, and catchers would be more
effective than another team of nine players, all of which are first-basemen standing around first base?
At
first, I could not adequately explain the antioxidant synergism that I was
observing, but some of the mechanisms were clarified with experiments.
Now they all seem to be understood. Dr. Denham Harman of the University of Nebraska had experimented with single compounds to see if they
had a protective effect. His first experiments were with sulfur compounds known to be protective against the effects of radiation on the body. In
1968, Dr. Harman demonstrated that a
diet consisting of 0.5 percent of vitamin E increased the life spans of mice by about 5 percent. Soon after, I reported
that synergistic combinations of
antioxidant nutrients were more
protective—with a 30-percent increase in average life span at lower and
practical dietary levels. Al Tappel, Ph.D.,
of the University of California at Davis confirmed the biological
synergism of the antioxidant nutrients used
in my laboratory animal studies. The reason for the synergism is that some
antioxidants are more effective against some free radicals, whereas other antioxidants are more
effective against other free
radicals. Synergism makes every link in the chain strong.
Q. Don't antioxidants also regenerate or recycle other antioxidants?
A.
That's correct. Lester Packer, Ph.D., of the University of California, Berkeley,
discovered that some antioxidants can
regenerate other antioxidants, and
this is another reason why they are synergistic. To explain a little more, after an antioxidant neutralizes a free radical, the antioxidant
becomes a weak free radical. Another
antioxidant can help regenerate this "used up" antioxidant.
For example, both alpha-lipoic acid and Pycnogenol can regenerate used vitamin C, which in turn, can regenerate used vitamin E. This means that alpha-lipoic acid and Pycnogenol extend the usefulness of vitamins C and E.
Q. In what foods are antioxidant nutrients
found?
A. A
varied diet containing at least five generous servings daily of fruits and vegetables
forms the foundation of an antioxidant-rich diet. There are thousands of antioxidant nutrients that occur in whole, unrefined foods that are not available in
supplements. Unfortunately, many of the antioxidant nutrients are removed during food processing. Vitamin E is stripped from vegetable oils in the
refining process and from whole
grains during their refinement into
white flour. Bioflavonoids taste bitter, so they are often removed from
refined foods. While a diet rich in fruits
and vegetables is the foundation, supplements are required to achieve the optimal levels of these antioxidant nutrients.
Carotenoids, another
family of antioxidants, are found in the
yellow, orange, and red fruits and vegetables,
and in some greens. Bioflavonoids are found
in most fruits, but particularly the blue and purple ones (such as grapes and blueberries). Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits, and bioflavonoids are found in the rinds (skins) of citrus.
Vitamin E is found in whole grains,
nuts, and vegetable oils. Selenium
is found in whole grains, garlic, and Brazil nuts—if there is enough selenium in the soils in which they are grown. So, even eating a
diet containing the correct foods doesn't guarantee that you will get optimal amounts
of selenium.
Q. Who discovered that free radicals caused
body damage?
A.
In 1954, Dr. Denham Harman was the first scientist to theorize
that the aging process was caused by free radicals. Until
then, free radicals were thought to exist only outside the body.
The only scientists that were familiar with free radicals were organic
chemists who utilized the production of free radicals to help
synthesize new compounds or make commercial processes for the production of complicated chemicals.
Harman
was very familiar with both free radicals and the human body. He was
a scientist experienced in radiation chemistry while at the Shell Development
Company and a physician at the Donner Laboratory of Medical Physics on the Berkeley
campus of the University of California. This unique combination gave him the
background to have the brilliant insight that free radicals
existed in the body and could cause damage.
The
discovery of biological free radicals and the damage they cause in
living systems is worthy of a Nobel
prize. This discovery has led to many advances in helping people
live better longer. By applying the knowledge stemming from Barman's research,
we have been able to delay many of the deleterious effects of
aging, reduce cancer and heart disease incidence, and relieve much suffering. This fact is
often overlooked as the tag given to Harman is
"the father of the free-radical theory of aging." Unfortunately, the
"aging" focus is too narrow and has obscured the broader implications
of Harman's research.
In
1968, Dr. Harman demonstrated that a diet consisting of 0.5 percent
of vitamin E increased the life spans of mice by about 5 percent. Soon after, I reported that synergistic combinations of antioxidant nutrients were more protective.
Q. How often do free radicals attack body
components?
A.
All the time! Bruce Ames, Ph.D., of the University of California at Berkeley estimates
that every single one of your body's cells (and you have trillions of them)
suffers about 10,000 free-radical "hits"
per day. Much of this damage is done to your deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), or genetic material. One of the consequences is that the mutation rate increases. Elderly persons have nine
times the frequency of cell mutations as do infants. These mutations increase the risk
of cancer. In addition, cell membranes,
proteins, and fats are also being damaged
by free radicals. Over a typical seventy-year life span, the body generates an estimated seventeen tons of free
radicals. Your body needs to have its
antioxidant defenses optimized at all times.
Q. What kinds of damage do free radicals
cause?
A. Free radicals can
damage all types of substances and tissues
in the body. The easiest damage, and thus the most frequent, is to body fats. This is because fats are especially prone to oxidation. Scientists use
the term "lipid
peroxidation" to describe oxidized fats in the body. Lipid peroxidation sets off a chain reaction that will continue throughout the fatty material
until stopped by an antioxidant.
Free
radicals can damage the nucleic acid bases (adenine, thymine, guanine,
and cytosine), which together form DNA. This damage prevents
DNA from accurately replicating itself. Damaged, or mutated,
DNA leads to the replication of incorrect biological
information—such as cancer cells.
Free radicals can also
damage proteins, meaning that
some body components may not function efficiently. For example, free radicals
can damage the collagen proteins in skin, leading to tougher skin.
Damaged enzymes (which are proteins) will not work as efficiently
to drive biochemical reactions. Nor will the repaired enzymes
be able to repair as much free-radical damage, and a downward spiral causes
a snowballing effect leading to faster aging and possibly cancer.
Q. How can free radicals cause cancer?
A.
There are several ways free radicals can cause cancer. I'll
discuss them in more detail in Chapter 3, but here are some brief
explanations.
• Free
radicals can damage DNA, which causes mutations. Mutated cells
can develop into cancer.
• Free
radicals can activate so-called cancer genes, also known as oncogenes.
• Free radicals can
suppress the immune system, inactivating
the body's defense against cancer.
• Free
radicals can activate carcinogens or "precarcinogens" to
start the chemical reactions that
lead to cancer.
• Free
radicals can damage cell membranes and inactivate the sensory
mechanisms that limit
abnormal cell growth and reproduction.
By quenching free
radicals, antioxidant nutrients protect against these
undesirable activities.
Q. How do free radicals cause heart disease?
A. Free radicals damage
the particles that carry cholesterol in the
blood and, in a sense, turn "good" cholesterol "bad." This damage changes the cholesterol carrier in such a way that it enters into
the wall of the arteries and starts
the process that results in cholesterol
deposits. Free radicals can also turn on blood platelet cells, which can form abnormal clots and set the stage for a heart attack. Free
radicals can damage the lining of the
arteries, which can lead to cholesterol deposits forming. The process is
far more complicated than the old theories
about eating too much cholesterol or
fats. I'll discuss it more in the
next chapter.
Q. Can free radicals cause arthritis?
A.
They can certainly aggravate arthritic symptoms. Arthritis is
characterized by inflammation. Inflammation usually involves "superoxide
anion" free
radical. Arthritis can be treated by reducing inflammation with antioxidants,
including SOD. Several studies have shown that dietary antioxidants
reduce the severity of existing arthritis. One of the promising
antiinflammatory antioxidants is Pycnogenol, found in
French Maritime pine bark.
Q. How do free radicals cause cataracts?
A. Cataracts are caused
by free radicals reacting with the proteins
in the eye lens. The eye lens is normally
clear, so light can pass through it. Sunlight also includes ultraviolet rays,
which generate free radicals when they react with proteins in the lens. These free radicals, if not quenched by
antioxidants, damage the proteins in
the eye. The damaged proteins are not clear, but cloudy, forming a cataract. Thus, cataracts can be caused by over-exposure to
sunlight. High glucose (blood sugar) levels also generate free radicals and can damage the lens. Antioxidants prevent
this damage by terminating free
radicals. But because there are no blood vessels in the lens, the fluid around it has to contain sufficient antioxidants.
Q. Are any free-radical
reactions good for us?
A. As strange as it might sound, we
couldn't live without free radicals. The body uses free radicals to
destroy germs. In addition, free radicals are needed for
energy production. The problem is that most people are exposed to too
many free radicals, a situation called oxidative stress, and
this is not healthy. Antioxidant supplements help restore a
balance.
Q. Can we control the
production of free radicals in our bodies?
A. You can avoid things that either
increase your exposure to free radicals or increase your body's production
of free radicals. For example, tobacco smoke and smog increase
free radicals in the body. Sunlight and x-rays also increase
free-radical production. As the ozone layer in the atmosphere diminishes,
we are exposed to more ultraviolet energy from the sun. Fats
and sugars promote free radicals. Stress increases free-radical production. The
increase in oxygen consumption required during heavy exercise
increases free-radical formation. However, most of the body's
free radicals are produced as side reactions during the
normal utilization of oxygen to burn food to make energy. There are many things we can't control—you may not be able to move out of a polluted city but you can
compensate by increasing your intake
of antioxidants.
Q. Why didn't we hear about the benefits
of antioxidants until fairly recently?
A.
Until about ten to fifteen years ago, there weren't too many scientists
studying free radicals and antioxidants. When I began studying antioxidant
nutrients in 1959, there were fewer than a dozen or so American
scientists studying the role of antioxidant nutrients in aging, cancer, heart
disease, and health in general. Today thousands of scientists are
studying the benefits of antioxidant nutrients, and it's hard to go
through a typical day without reading or hearing something about
antioxidants.
This did not change
overnight. It took the hard work of several
scientists to inform the medical profession
of the benefits of antioxidant nutrients. Also, until recently, nutrition wasn't taken seriously by the medical profession. Dietary supplements were frowned
upon. Anything over the very low Recommended
Daily Allowance was considered risky, and anyone educating the public about the exciting research proving the health benefits of
supplements was called a "quack."
As
more and more evidence was published, it began making the news.
Doctors shifted their stance from "Don't take vitamin
pills because they may harm you" to "Take them if you want, but they are a waste of money." Now, a high percentage
of physicians take supplements and recommend them to their patients. At a 1995 meeting of
cardiologists, about 90 percent admitted taking vitamin E supplements, though only about 75 percent prescribed them for their patients.
Q. Are there some general, simple recommendations
for antioxidant supplements?
A.
Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., chief of the antioxidant research laboratory at Tufts
University, helped found the Alliance for Aging Research to help disseminate exactly this type of information. At a
press conference, this nonprofit
research group noted that people
could live longer and be healthier if they took daily supplements of vitamins C and E and carotenoids. They recommended that
healthy people should take the following every day:
• 10CMOO
IU of vitamin E.
• 17,000-50,000
mg of carotenoids.
• 250-1,000
milligrams of vitamin C.
Dr. Blumberg reported
that "We have the confidence that these
things really do work." Later in this
book, I'll provide more comprehensive recommendations for antioxidant supplementation.
2.
Antioxidants
for a Healthy Heart
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The
common heart attack is due to coronary artery disease in which
lesions (deposits of cholesterol and other materials) narrow
the lumen (opening) of the arteries. The narrowing of arteries by deposits
is called atherosclerosis, and when it affects arteries feeding the heart, it's
called coronary heart disease. Since
there's a lot of cholesterol in these
deposits, many doctors assumed that cholesterol-rich foods would damage
blood-vessel walls. But there's more to the process—levels of free radicals and antioxidants influence your risk of heart disease.
Q. What is a heart attack?
A.
Having narrowed arteries (atherosclerosis), per se, does not cause
the common heart attack. The narrowed
arteries damage blood cells called platelets when the cells
are forced to squeeze by. Platelets are the blood cells
responsible for clotting, and squeezing and damaging them
facilitates the formation of blood clots. The clots can lodge in the narrowed arteries, completely shutting off the flow
of blood through that artery. This life-threatening condition is called
a coronary thrombosis—a blood clot in a coronary artery.
When
a blood clot shuts off the flow of blood in a coronary artery, the region of
the heart fed by the artery is starved of oxygen and nutrients. The result is the death of these cells, which is called an
infarct. This is the classic heart
attack called an acute myocardial (heart) infarction.
Q. What are some other common heart diseases?
A.
Another common form of heart disease is congestive heart failure, in
which the heart is too weak to pump efficiently. Usually, the heart itself has enlarged
as it has tried to compensate for the reduced output. Angina is
the pain experienced in the heart when there is not enough blood reaching all
parts of the heart during activity. Then there are disorders
of the heartbeat rate regularity—too irregular (arrhythmia), too fast
(tachycardia), or too slow (bradycardia) for an efficient pumping
action. Spasms can clamp an artery shut and cause a heart attack
even though there are no significant cholesterol deposits. High blood pressure
(hypertension) affects arteries and is a risk factor in various forms of heart
disease.
Q. How do cholesterol deposits form?
A.Cholesterol
is a fat and not soluble in blood (which is watery), so it
is carried in particles called lipoproteins. Two important lipoproteins
are low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein
(HDL). The cholesterol carried by LDL is often called the "bad"
cholesterol. LDL carries cholesterol to the cells. The
cholesterol carried by HDL is often called the "good" cholesterol. HDL
carries cholesterol away from cells.
Cholesterol deposits seem to form only when LDL becomes damaged by oxidation.
It's then called oxidized LDL. Oxidized LDL can
infiltrate the artery lining and initiate a series of events that trap the
cholesterol in the oxidized LDL, attract white blood cells, and form a
deposit.
Q. How do antioxidant nutrients protect against cholesterol deposits?
A
LDL becomes oxidized only when the amount of antioxidants is insufficient to protect the
LDL against oxidation. Oxidized LDL is a
sign of very low antioxidant levels, because LDL is the medium that transports fat-soluble antioxidants through
the body. The prime antioxidant that protects LDL is vitamin E, although other antioxidants help by recycling vitamin E. Other antioxidants can also destroy
many of the free radicals before they reach LDL
to cause damage. The tendency to form oxidized LDL, and hence cholesterol deposits, depends on two
factors: the amount of LDL and the balance between
antioxidants and free radicals. Both are important, but the antioxidant /free
radical balance is the more important of the two.
Q. How do antioxidant nutrients protect against other causes of heart disease?
A.
While a lot of attention has been focused on cholesterol through
the years, the strongest dietary association with heart
disease is a deficiency of vitamin E. Cholesterol deposits
by themselves don't cause a heart attack.
They are a major contributing factor to
forming the blood clot (coronary thrombosis) that causes the heart attack (acute myocardial infarction). As long as the blood can squeeze by
the narrowing caused by the
cholesterol deposits in good volume, the heart will receive sufficient
oxygen and nutrients to keep the heart
tissue alive.
A
critical factor then is to maintain the proper "slipperiness"
of the blood cells and prevent a blood clot from forming in
the coronary arteries. Vitamin E, and especially Pycnogenol, have a protective anti-aggregation effect on blood
platelets, which are critical factors
in the blood clotting process. They are particularly effective against
the damage to platelets from stress and
smoking.
In
addition, the antioxidant nutrient Pycnogenol is a mild hypotensive
(an agent that lowers blood pressure), which helps maintain a normal blood pressure.
Pycnogenol also acts to maintain adequate nitric oxide levels so blood vessels can
relax. Recent studies have also linked
inflammation to heart disease.
Antioxidant nutrients, especially Pycnogenol, reduce inflammation.
Vitamin
E is important to the heart and arteries in more ways than protecting
LDL from oxidation. As an example, vitamin E is vital to
maintaining a healthy lining of the arteries. Tears in the lining
of arteries are another way in which deposits can form. Pycnogenol is a secondary factor in
every way that vitamin E helps—this is because Pycnogenol regenerates
vitamin C, which in turn, regenerates vitamin E. All of the antioxidants
together form one terrific team to prevent heart disease.
Q. Can antioxidant vitamins prevent heart
attacks?
A.
Yes, they can—especially vitamin E. A study by cardiologists at
Cambridge University found that daily supplements of 400 IU
or 800 IU of natural vitamin E reduced heart attacks by 77 percent. This was a
large scientific study involving 2,000 people over about five
years. In many respects, this single study was the major turning
point in making vitamin E acceptable to physicians.
Antioxidant
nutrients slow or reverse heart disease. A mixture of the
tocotrienol and tocopherol forms of vitamin E reversed the development of cholesterol deposits in
people. In another study, researchers
reported that vitamin E supplements, 100
IU or more daily, could slow the formation of cholesterol deposits.
Q. How do antioxidant nutrients protec