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by Rina Reznik, Ph.D.
More Than Just an Antioxidant
At times the free radical story seems like
old news. Everyone knows these
harmful molecules cause wrinkles,
aging and heart disease—even cancer. But how
much do we really understand? Where do they
come from and exactly how much of a risk do
they pose?
Far from clarifying these issues, recent discoveries
in the field of free radical biology have
complicated the picture even more. There are
many free radicals and your body is attacked
by trillions of them every day—every hour if
you’re a smoker. They’re a formidable opponent
but we’re not defenseless. Antioxidants
can neutralize free radicals, although most
people using them don’t understand how. So
are all antioxidants as good as one other? If
not, what’s the difference? Perhaps specific
antioxidants are needed to neutralize specific
free radicals. How many do we need? Do they
interact with each other? Are there side effects?
Even though there are more questions than
answers, North Americans today consume
antioxidant pills and powders in unprecedented
quantities. We owe it to ourselves to get better
acquainted with free radicals and antioxidants.
Years ago we heard that antioxidants would herald
the dawn of a new age in preventive medicine.
Since then science has made impressive
headway into this new age. Since the key to
preventive medicine is self-knowledge, we can
benefit by understanding the mechanisms of
free radical damage and the antioxidant defense
system. This understanding can also help us
recognize the significance of new antioxidants
such as rosmarinic acid (RA).
What are free radicals?
Free radicals are damaged atoms or molecules
that cause untold harm to the body. This happens
by the same process that turns oil rancid.
The worst-case scenario is lipid peroxidation,
when the molecules in the fatty walls of cells
are ignited like firecrackers, losing and stealing
electrons in chain reactions that quickly damage
the entire cell.
It all has to do with atomic electricity.
According to quantum chemistry, the electrons
that surround all atoms have a natural
tendency to pair off and counterbalance one
another—one with an “up-spin” and the other
with a “down-spin.” Atoms with an uneven
number of electrons usually pair them off with
available electrons in other atoms, forming
strong bonds that hold the atoms together as
molecules. Most electrons in living tissue are
sufficiently stabilized in this way, but not all.
Atoms and molecules can lose this stability
and become unbalanced molecular fragments
or free radicals. Groping around in search of a
partner, they compulsively steal electrons from
surrounding molecules, including those that
make up living cells. Cells can suffer damage to
their outer membranes or inner organelles and
become effectively disabled. When enough cells
are damaged, individual organs suffer and we
get sick. Free radical attack has been blamed
in whole or in part for a growing number of
diseases. Some scientists actually attribute all
disease, not to mention aging itself, to the accumulated
damage of free radicals.
Free radicals are not just caused by outside
threats. They’re also created in the body as a
routine by-product of the body’s normal functions,
especially cellular respiration—the way
cells use oxygen to stay alive. Each cell contains
tiny power plants that produce energy by
breaking up atoms and passing their electrons
like hot potatoes from one protein molecule to
another. The process is profoundly complex,
utterly awe-inspiring and barely understood.
At the end of each energy cycle most atoms are
restored to their original state, but it’s been
estimated that up to 2 percent of the oxygen
used in cellular respiration may end up as
superoxide radical. Given that the human
body contains about one hundred trillion cells,
and each cell routinely produces a billion reactions
in a few minutes of energy production,
this single process releases trillions of free radicals
each day. And this is just from cellular respiration.
We can add to that the damage
caused by pollutants and other harmful substances.
Cigarette smoke produces one trillion
free radicals per puff. Then there’s polluted air,
the damaging fried fats in fast food, ultraviolet
radiation—the list is endless. We can dodge
some of them but not all.
Risk factors
It is safe to say that most of us would never
consider consuming potentially contaminated
or spoiled food. However, on a daily basis we’re
eating food in which oxidation is working in
full force to convert fatty acids to hydroperoxides
and peroxides (toxic and dangerous
derivates) but still looks and tastes fine and is
well within shelf life guarantees. Intake of
these toxic oxidation compounds constitutes a
compounding danger to our health by stressing
and exhausting the body’s already taxed
defense system. This oxidation is even more
dangerous than consuming food contaminated
by bacteria, which will be immediately
rejected by our systems.
Other sources of free radicals are alcohol,
asbestos, calorie-dense fatty foods (hamburgers,
French fries, chocolates, cakes, etc.),
chlorinated water, all sorts of smoke, ionizing
radiation (including overexposure to sunlight),
pesticides, silica dust, various solvents and
disinfectants, many pharmaceutical and recreational
drugs and certain trace metals. Plus of
course, stress. Given today’s reality, very few of
these are truly avoidable, which is why we have
to reinforce the body’s antioxidant defenses.
Antioxidants
Antioxidant molecules are able to donate or
receive spare electrons without losing balance
themselves and without passing on the imbalance.
They’re sometimes called shock
absorbers. Their ability to do this lies in special
molecular structures, in which they can shift
their own electrons around into various configurations
to absorb or donate electrons without
bothering other molecules.
However, too many antioxidants can actually
interfere with our immune response—a
sophisticated defense system comparable to a
modern army. It has specialized reconnaissance,
intelligence and attack units and a variety
of troops and weapons for different targets.
The lowly phagocyte is the foot soldier. It’s a
large, rather lumbering cell whose job is to
mop up the innumerable microbes that make
their way into our bodies. Its weapon is the
hydrogen peroxide radical, which it spits into
the path of incoming invaders. If the battleground
—the space between the cells—is too
rich in antioxidants, the radicals are neutralized
before they have a chance to do their
work, enabling the invaders to dig in and make
us sick. Such imbalance in the body between
free radicals and antioxidants may result from
eating a poorly balanced combination of
dietary antioxidants that leaves some improperly
absorbed and accumulating in the wrong
places. Oil soluble antioxidants such as beta carotene are particularly guilty. In fact, beta
carotene seems to make matters worse for smokers
suffering from lung cancer, even though
other cancer researchers are trying to get free
radicals to destroy cancer cells. For this and
other reasons, we know there are limits to the
advantages of antioxidants.
In spite of these complications, however,
there is plenty of statistical evidence to suggest
that a balanced and varied consumption of
dietary antioxidants reduces the overall risk of
degenerative disease.
Endogenous/exogenous antioxidants, and
oxidant-antioxidant balance
The body has its own ways of dealing with the
free radicals produced by routine bodily processes—it manufactures its own antioxidants. You
may have heard of superoxide dismutase (SOD),
glutathione (GSH), squalene and coenzyme Q10.
We get other antioxidants from the famous five
daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables that
we’re all supposed to eat.
The antioxidants made by the body are
immensely important. Like dietary antioxidants
they possess electron-absorbing properties, but
they do more. Glutathione—the master antioxidant—recycles vitamins C and E as well as lipoic
acid, multiplying their effectiveness many times
over. Unlike dietary antioxidants, the body’s
own antioxidants are manufactured on demand,
putting the right quantity in the right place at
the right time.
However, the risk factors of modern life are
rapidly consuming antioxidants and stretching
the body’s inner mechanisms to their limit. We
need additional supplies of good quality dietary
antioxidants.
Preventive medicine
To protect ourselves we invest in lifestyle
changes, exercise, a healthy diet and supplementation.
Antioxidants are only one element in the
big picture, so products with multiple uses are
particularly useful. After all, there’s a limit to the
number of supplements we can swallow in a day,
let alone afford, so we need to supplement wisely.
For example, consuming un-denatured whey
protein raises intracellular glutathione levels and
takes advantage of its three protective functions:
T-cell synthesis, antioxidation and detoxification.
Spirulina is an effective dietary antioxidant
with dozens of well-known health benefits.
Rosmarinic acid is another product that offers
multiple advantages.
Rosmarinic acid
Rosemary and its cousins, oregano and thyme,
have been known for their medicinal properties
for centuries and rosemary oil has long been
used in cooking, aromatherapy and in hair and
skin tonics. It has been described traditionally as
good for the skin, scalp, digestion and treatment
of colds and is used as an antiseptic, stimulant
and antispasmodic. Today, medical scientists are
particularly interested in rosmarinic acid for its
anti-inflammatory, antiallergic and antioxidant
properties.
Rosmarinic acid’s multiple value also lies in
its boxer’s one-two approach: first, as a purely
natural food additive it prevents or neutralizes
the harmful oxidation that takes place while
food is on the shelf, enhancing its quality and
helping to prevent an additional tax on the
body’s over-burdened defense system. Then
once the food is eaten, the same additive turns
out to be a powerful dietary antioxidant. Of
course, it can also be used for direct supplementation.
An added bonus is that rosmarinic acid
does not interfere with intracellular oxidantantioxidant
balance and enables the immune
system’s phagocytes to use their free-radical
weapons effectively against incoming disease
organisms.
RA’s antioxidant power
The most common free radicals attacking living
tissue are reactive oxygen species (ROS)—or
oxyradicals. They include the peroxyl, nitric
oxide and superoxide-anion radicals plus singlet
oxygen, peroxynitrite and hydrogen peroxide.
Worst of all is the dangerous hydroxyl radical,
formed by the combination of the weaker superoxide
radical with hydrogen peroxide.
Rosmarinic acid neutralizes the superoxideanion
and thus makes a major contribution to
curbing oxidative damage in the body.
Rosmarinic acid also takes the heat of the
more well-known antioxidants by getting into the
fray and dealing with free radicals first, leaving
vitamins C, E and others intact for later use. This
extract is also one of the few antioxidants able to
cross the blood-brain barrier and combat the
superoxide radical in the brain, where researchers
hope it may help prevent or combat such degenerative
conditions as Alzheimer’s disease.
The manufacturer
Researchers at the Israeli biotechnology company
RAD Natural Technologies discovered that
certain natural species of the plant Origanum
vulgare contained particularly high concentrations
of rosmarinic acid. Without genetic modification
the plant yields a highly purified extract
that is effective in very low concentrations. With
neither solvents nor processing chemicals, RAD
Natural Technologies is able to preserve the
integrity of the plant extract and produce a
water-soluble powder that can alternatively be
emulsified and thus dissolved in fats and oils. It’s
ideal for industrial applications. If you’ve always
thought of antioxidants as pills and dietary supplements,
think again.
The company’s rosmarinic acid product is
called Origanox, and it is sold for food processing,
cosmetic and dietary purposes. Its antioxidant
properties preserve natural pigments, odors and
flavors and also protect vitamins and other active
ingredients from the degenerative effects of oxidation.
It also possesses antibacterial, antifungal,
antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties and is
easily absorbed into the skin, where it potentially
supports to neutralize the harmful effect of
ultraviolet radiation.
Rosmarinic acid maintains its electronabsorbing
properties at sustained high temperatures.
That means that when it is added to edible
oils, the number of free radicals released by
frying is diminished. It is stable for long periods
and at temperatures as high as 180 C/356 F so it
can be baked into foods without impairing its
antioxidant properties.
Besides its standard-grade rosmarinic acid,
the company manufactures an enriched version,
using a patented purification technology for special
applications in food, health food, cosmetics
and the manufacture of an oil-based version (to
be available in a short while for the protection
against rancidity of oils and oil-containing
(baked and fried) products.
Conclusion
Free radicals come at us from every conceivable
direction and we need a good variety of
antioxidants to protect ourselves. Some, like
glutathione, are produced by the body, and are
dependent upon a supply of raw materials from
dietary sources. Others, like vitamins C and E,
are built into the foods we eat or supplement in
our diets. We may not be used to thinking of
food preservatives as health aids but rosmarinic
acid is a valuable aid that supports to preempt
free radicals before they form in stored food and
prevents the most harmful effects resulting from
cooking with all sorts of oils. It also functions as
a powerful antioxidant with the rare ability to
cross the blood-brain barrier.
The essential oil of Origanum vulgare is a
powerful, anti-microbial agent and natural, antiseptic
product. It has many, very promising
applications in certain feed and food products
besides being a flavor enhancer and therapeutic
component in health food supplements. This
potent and adaptable product promises to
become a valuable addition to our preventive
medicine arsenal.
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