1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,840 Well, thanks for joining today. 2 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:06,240 We're going to talk a little bit about some stuff based off of a few questions 3 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,920 that got brought up with a conversation I was having the other day with some students 4 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:14,360 regarding free radicals and the need for antioxidants in the diets 5 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:18,080 based off of the things that we eat and the things that we do on our daily basis. 6 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:22,680 And some of them were asking my opinions about all of these supposed superfoods 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,040 and superfood supplements that are out there in the market 8 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,760 because they were talking about what they heard is that 9 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:33,320 we need all of these various types of superfoods and various types of supplements 10 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:37,880 to help control inflammation, help improve their health, help get rid of 11 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:43,360 I think they called it gut bloat in terms of their overall health. 12 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,840 And so there's a few things we have to remember, a few things that we have to 13 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:49,840 when we look at stuff that goes in there is it goes back to what we've been 14 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:52,000 talking about for a long period of time. 15 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,360 Does it really matter what we eat? 16 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:59,280 And because we don't focus on a lot of the nutritional aspects 17 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,840 as relates to what we eat because of the guise of diet 18 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,800 based off of calories and not based off of nutrients, we get a misunderstanding 19 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:11,600 of some of the science and principles that are out there that have led to all of these 20 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:16,280 supposed superfoods and all of these different types of bad diets. 21 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:22,600 And a lot of what these have come out 22 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,920 in terms of the market is that they make these kind of claims. 23 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:30,240 And what I remember is that if I'm going to make astronomical claims, 24 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,040 I need to have astronomical support. 25 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:37,240 And so one of the things that we have to fall back on is the fact that 26 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:56,240 a lot of the claims of benefits might not be true. 27 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:02,040 So in order to take a look at what we're talking about, 28 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,840 we talk about superfoods and antioxidants. 29 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:09,280 The first question we have to kind of address is what are superfoods 30 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,080 and what are antioxidants and should I be eating antioxidants? 31 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:18,000 Well, here's the kind of kicker. 32 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,920 Here's the thing about a lot of these things. 33 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:24,560 Superfoods is a marketing gimmick. 34 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:25,840 It's a marketing ploy. 35 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:28,520 It's a statement about marketability 36 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:34,320 based off of supposed benefit that you might get from specific types of foods, 37 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:38,280 based off of some of the chemicals that might be present within the foods. 38 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:43,880 And most of the chemicals that are being reported as being the, 39 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:46,840 quote unquote, active ingredient within these superfoods 40 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:49,960 are predominantly antioxidants. 41 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,240 And so just doing a quick Internet search, 42 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,520 you get what are the 20 best superfoods? 43 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:01,080 What are the 50 best superfoods? 44 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:02,560 What are the 80 best superfoods? 45 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,320 Here are the 10 best superfoods. 46 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,240 What does superfoods actually do for you? 47 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:13,080 And it comes down to the fact that I think we're misusing the word super here. 48 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:14,480 When we say superfood, 49 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,240 what we're basically indicating is that there's some food out there 50 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,640 that has some sort of special nutrient benefit to it. 51 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:23,440 And if that's the case, then we would have the scientific evidence 52 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:25,960 to say that this is the food 53 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,400 that will provide the greatest nutritional benefit for you. 54 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:31,560 And that just doesn't seem to be the case. 55 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:35,840 What the marketing play of superfood is meant to imply 56 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:39,960 is that this kind of food, this food additive, 57 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,400 this food preservative, this supplement 58 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,120 is somehow having some sort of excessive nutrient value 59 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,520 relative to other things that you might eat. 60 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:55,400 And what they're typically doing is that they're typically giving us foods 61 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,800 that somehow match an antioxidant food. 62 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,560 The food sources that we have that are being labeled as superfoods 63 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:07,200 are food sources that have chemicals 64 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,760 that have been indicated as being an antioxidant 65 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,800 or are involved with metabolic processes within the cells of the body 66 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:17,640 that help control for radicals. 67 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:20,120 But the problem is, is that the way in which most of these 68 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:22,480 quote unquote superfoods are sold 69 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,520 is that they're sold as some sort of supplement, some sort of powder. 70 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:29,240 Drink this, and once again, I'm not going to name any company here 71 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,160 because I don't want to give anybody free airtime. 72 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:36,480 And a lot of the propoted benefits that come about 73 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,880 from some of the supplement companies is sketchy at best. 74 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:43,600 If I eat the food source as the food source, 75 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,760 I get greater nutritional value from it than when I grind up 76 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,200 that food source and turn it into a dry powder 77 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:52,080 and then mix it into a liquid and drink it. 78 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:56,400 It's not always the case, but it is the predominant trend, 79 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:01,240 particularly with where we're discussing these quote unquote superfoods 80 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:06,640 coming from, is that once I take the foods out of the quote unquote 81 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:10,160 natural environment, out of the actual food itself 82 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:14,480 and turn it into some sort of supplemental thing, some sort of powder. 83 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:21,000 The benefit that I could get from that food drops. 84 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,480 There are some of this labeled superfoods where this isn't the case. 85 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:30,680 There are some things that we turn into teas that do have 86 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:34,120 some of the antioxidant properties that we see within superfoods 87 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:37,840 that we don't get if we were to chew on the leaves 88 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:42,160 and not steep the leaves in terms of brewing tea. 89 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:47,840 Same thing with the extracts that we get from coffee 90 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:50,200 and from the coffee nut. 91 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:55,280 Where if I was to chew on the coffee bean, 92 00:05:55,280 --> 00:05:59,920 I would not get the same properties that I get from the extracted oils 93 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:04,280 and the extracted esters that come out of brewing of coffee. 94 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:07,400 However, for most of the other things that we label as being superfoods, 95 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:08,400 that's not the case. 96 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:12,320 Most of the nutritional value that we see with these things 97 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,480 that are labeled as quote unquote superfoods comes from them 98 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,000 being in their food source, not in their product. 99 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,120 They're in their source, not in their powder source. 100 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,480 Now, the other thing we have to have here is a big huge caveat 101 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,680 on this superfood label, particularly when it comes to the claims 102 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:33,000 of purported benefits, is that we have very limited empirical evidence 103 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,000 to support many of the claims that are out there. 104 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:39,480 If you look at individual chemical compounds that might be found within the foods, 105 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:44,520 the chemical compounds based off of a actual specific dose recommendation, 106 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:48,920 we will see some actual chemical physiological responses to them, 107 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,840 but we don't know those dose variables when we talk about in terms of 108 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:56,280 either a supplement or as the food source itself. 109 00:06:56,280 --> 00:07:01,640 I've yet to see any empirical study looking at the claimed superfoods. 110 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:05,000 There are a number of books out there, but the books that are out there 111 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,120 are not peer reviewed in terms of scientific methodology 112 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:15,240 and analysis of the findings to actually ensure that the claims 113 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:17,560 being put out are the claims that are true. 114 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:21,080 We can stipulate that superfood is nothing more than a marketing ploy 115 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:24,920 in order to try to get us to purchase specific things 116 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:29,000 because somehow by eating this thing or drinking this powder, 117 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,000 we're somehow going to be healthy. 118 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:35,080 I'll have a little bit more comment on that near the end of the talk here. 119 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:38,600 But what about supplements and what about eating things that are going to provide 120 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,040 my body with extra amounts of antioxidants? 121 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,240 And this is where we have a catch-22, and I'll explain why 122 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:46,840 as we go through the presentation here. 123 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:51,480 The actual empirical science tells us is that when I am physically active, 124 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:58,680 whether that's doing endurance training or doing any type of strength training, 125 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:04,680 so doing what people call cardio or doing running or jogging or lifting weights 126 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:09,240 in terms of the resistance training or lifting weights and running 127 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,440 or doing any of the type of cardio for the endurance training, 128 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:19,240 if I'm physically active and if I'm eating a variety of different types of foods 129 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:24,200 where I'm going to be able to not just be eating a single type of food 130 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:28,520 or single type of food source, but be eating multiple types of food sources, 131 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:33,560 utilizing various types of exercise regimens and physical activity regimens. 132 00:08:33,560 --> 00:08:37,400 So if I'm able to stay relatively physically active, 133 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:41,960 eat a variety of different types of foods, and do a few other things, 134 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:46,040 like avoiding foods that are high in trans fats. 135 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:49,480 Once again, we don't want to eat more than maybe a gram to two grams 136 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:51,320 of trans fats in a total day. 137 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:55,720 Avoiding things like smoking, avoiding heavy amounts of drinking. 138 00:08:55,720 --> 00:09:00,680 If I can avoid trans fats, if I can avoid smoking, if I can avoid heavy drinking, 139 00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:03,640 then I don't need to eat additional foods 140 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,680 indicated as having large amounts of antioxidants. 141 00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:10,040 And I definitely don't need the supplements that are supposedly 142 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,600 going to contain large amounts of antioxidants. 143 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:17,000 One of the problems with taking the supplements with antioxidants 144 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:21,640 is that we actually don't know the true amount of bioavailable chemicals 145 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,800 that are known to be antioxidants within the supplements we're taking. 146 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,120 We may know how much is there, but we don't necessarily know 147 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:32,600 how much will pass through the liver and allow for circulation throughout the body 148 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:35,480 to provide antioxidant properties to the body. 149 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:38,200 Antioxidant properties within the chemical reactions 150 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:41,000 necessary to control for radicals for the rest of the body. 151 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,080 There's different types of chemical reactions that take place 152 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:48,200 in terms of chemical reactions that allow for things to be active within the body, 153 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:50,200 what we refer to as being bioactive. 154 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:54,200 But we also don't know how much of the stuff that we're taking 155 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:58,200 in the supplements will be absorbed, which is sometimes referred to as bioavailability. 156 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,240 And so as long as I'm avoiding those factors, 157 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:08,280 the trans fats to a high amount, trying to avoid smoking, 158 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:12,120 and it really doesn't matter what kind of smoking, just avoiding the smoking, 159 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:16,040 and avoiding high amounts of alcohol consumption, 160 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:18,600 staying relatively physically active, 161 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:21,960 then I don't need to over consume the antioxidants 162 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:26,920 and I definitely don't need to worry about the supplements that contain antioxidants. 163 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:27,720 And why is that? 164 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,800 Well, it goes into how the, how the free radicals are going to form within the body. 165 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,920 And what antioxidants happen to be, because remember, 166 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,040 all of these quote unquote superfoods are going to basically be foods 167 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:40,440 that contain antioxidants within them. 168 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,560 And the antioxidant supplements, the antioxidant foods that we're going to be consuming 169 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:49,080 are meant to be consumed in such a way as to help control free radicals. 170 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:55,880 And it falls back onto the chemistry part of the science that the body uses 171 00:10:55,880 --> 00:11:00,120 in order to maintain optimal states, what is sometimes referred to as homeostasis. 172 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:04,120 And the type of reactions that most often are going to be involved within the body 173 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:07,480 are sometimes referred to as redox reactions, scientifically, 174 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:10,520 reduction and oxidation reactions. 175 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:15,400 And what the reduction oxidation reactions are doing is that they are reactions that are 176 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:20,760 happening between molecules, between atoms, where electrons are bonding together 177 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:22,920 and splitting apart within the molecules. 178 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:29,240 In this, sometimes the molecules will gain and sometimes molecules will lose their strength. 179 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:31,320 Sometimes molecules will lose electrons. 180 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:36,440 In the gaining and losing of electrons, we undergo reduction and oxidation. 181 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:42,280 And so if I'm in a reduced state, that means that I have gained electrons. 182 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,520 In the case of how the body works, we usually look at it in terms of hydrogen ions. 183 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:52,280 In the oxidized state, I have lost electrons within the reactions. 184 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:56,120 And so a lot of the metabolic processes that the body is going to use 185 00:11:56,120 --> 00:12:01,560 will undergo this reduction and oxidation reactions where we'll have molecules in a reduced state 186 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:03,880 and molecules in an oxidized state. 187 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:11,160 And sometimes we get reactions that occur too quickly for full reduction and full oxidation to take place. 188 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:16,760 And when we get that, reactions occurring a little too quickly to get full reduction and full oxidation, 189 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,080 that's where we get free radical formations. 190 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:26,920 And the free radical formations occur when we get an unpaired electron within the atoms of the molecule. 191 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:32,040 And the way which electrons work, and I know this is going to get a little beyond what most people 192 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:38,120 want to hear about in terms of the science here, is the way in which electrons work is that they 193 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:40,360 spin around the nucleus of the atom. 194 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:45,880 And as they spin around the nucleus of the atom, they move in a kind of a piston-like action 195 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:52,360 within their, what we call the orbit, the spinning around of the nucleus of the atom. 196 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:54,120 And they're paired up. 197 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,640 So if one is spinning in an upwards direction, 198 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:01,000 its paired electron within its orbit is spinning in the downward direction. 199 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,240 And what this does is this keeps everything stable within the molecule. 200 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:07,640 But when we have these reactions occur too quickly, 201 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:12,200 what ends up happening is that the unpaired electron is out of sync with how it should be 202 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:13,880 orbiting around the nucleus. 203 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:18,920 And what it's going to do is it's then going to try to sync with some other atom. 204 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:25,000 It's going to seek out other electrons that it could somehow pair with in order to get 205 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,880 its piston action to balance itself out. 206 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:33,800 Very similar to how the pistons in your engine is going to sync so that we have a balance within 207 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:38,120 the engine of our car in terms of the internal combustion engine. 208 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:44,680 And so these molecules, these free radicals, are going to come about from reactive reactions, 209 00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:47,640 reactions of reduction in oxidation that occur, 210 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:53,400 where we're looking at three principal atoms that will generate our free radicals, 211 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:54,600 our reactive species. 212 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,000 Sometimes referred to as reactive oxidative species. 213 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:04,200 And these are going to be our reactive oxygen species, our OS, our reactive nitrogen species, 214 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:09,640 our NS, and our reactive sulfur species, our SS. 215 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:16,200 Now for simplistic purposes, we usually will simplify this down to reactive oxidative species, 216 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:21,560 ROS, or reactive oxygen species, ROS. 217 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:23,960 Now we have to remember is that the free radicals themselves, 218 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:27,800 even though we talk about it as being oxidative species, 219 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:32,600 is not necessarily an indication that is oxygen, 220 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:37,160 nor is it going to come from the oxygen reactions within the cell. 221 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:40,040 And so these molecules, because they're unstable, 222 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:46,280 because they're missing the electron to pair up within the piston action that's taking place, 223 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:47,960 they start to wobble. 224 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:56,600 And it's that wobbling that occurs that leads to an oxidized state for the free radical. 225 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:01,640 And what it's attempting to do is it wants to go out and wants to bond onto something 226 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,200 so that it gets out of this oxidized state. 227 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:08,600 So it's able to get reduced or it's able to get stabilized. 228 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:13,480 And so that wanting to bond onto other things, 229 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:18,600 the constant interaction with other molecules within the body triggers metabolic stresses. 230 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:23,400 It triggers metabolic stresses as what that molecule is attempting to do is attempting 231 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,000 to pair with every other molecule it comes in contact with, 232 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,440 regardless of how stable that molecule happens to be. 233 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,120 And there's various types of free radicals that can come about 234 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:40,360 that will generate different types of metabolic stresses based off of where we see the radicals 235 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:44,760 within the body, whether they're intracellular within the cells themselves, 236 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:48,360 or if they're interstitial between the cell tissues, 237 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:53,560 or if they're in circulation within the fluids of the body, particularly within the blood, 238 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:58,040 leading to different types of damages that can take place. 239 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:02,600 And so what this is going to lead to is the body not wanting to be out of bounds, 240 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:07,640 and the body is going to do something in order to help keep the body in balance. 241 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:10,440 And what it's going to do is it's going to generate molecules 242 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:15,160 that are meant to temporarily stabilize this radicalized molecule, 243 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:21,480 this molecule that is in that oxidized state trying to find some sort of electron 244 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:25,240 to stabilize that wobble that it happens to have. 245 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:29,080 And it does this through the generation of the antioxidant. 246 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:35,000 And what the antioxidant is, is it's a stable molecule that has an extra electron within 247 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:41,160 that electron's orbit that it can temporarily give to the free radical. 248 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:47,400 So what it does is it kind of binds to the free radical in such a way so that it becomes stable, 249 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:52,520 and it becomes stable long enough either to be metabolized into something else, 250 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:58,040 or be excreted from the body, either through respiration, breathing out, 251 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:03,720 or through sweat, or through urine, or through excretion of bile into the intestines. 252 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:07,800 And so what the antioxidant is going to do is it's going to temporarily bind onto 253 00:17:08,360 --> 00:17:11,480 this free radical, and it's going to temporarily bind onto the free radical 254 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:17,800 so that we're able to reduce the metabolic stress that's taking place. 255 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,440 And that's great if we're able to keep our body in balance. 256 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,880 And we're able to keep everything in balance because we're going to have distinct things 257 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,840 that are going to be able to produce antioxidants for us, 258 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:30,680 which means we don't have to be constantly eating them. 259 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:34,680 So within the body, we're going to have a whole bunch of things that are enzymatic 260 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,000 and a whole bunch of things that are non-enzymatic. 261 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:39,960 We have enzymes and coenzymes. 262 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:44,520 One of the ones that everybody hears about is something known as CoQ, 263 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:52,920 and Co stands for coenzyme. And so CoQ is one of those coenzymes that will act as an antioxidant. 264 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:59,720 And that is predominantly found within the cells as a means to control radical formation 265 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:06,120 in the energy pathways, in the pathways that are meant to produce ATP for the body. 266 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,640 But we'll also see it within the cell structure, 267 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:15,160 the cells of the liver and cells of the kidneys that are attempting to quote unquote detoxify. 268 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:21,400 But then we also have other things that are non-enzyme, non-coenzyme things such as flavonoids, 269 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:25,640 metal binding proteins, an amino acid known as gluthinine. 270 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:33,800 Then we have some other things like uric acid, melatonin, bilirubin, polyamines. 271 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:35,720 And then we have the 272 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:46,440 coenzymatic factors such as vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin E, and a few of the vitamin Bs. 273 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,160 All of these are going to be antioxidants that the body has, 274 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:58,360 that the body is either able to generate from other metabolites or produce itself. 275 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:02,920 And so what we have to remember here is that we're attempting to control the radicals with 276 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:07,880 those antioxidants. Now here's the problem. If I have too many antioxidants or if I have too many 277 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:14,040 free radicals, we're indicating here if I have enough too many free radicals, but the antioxidant 278 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:18,680 itself can act as a free radical because once again it has that unpaired electron, 279 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:20,920 something we'll talk about here in a few minutes. 280 00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:25,480 If I have too many free radicals, I'm going to have to use a few different 281 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:33,480 in a few minutes. If I have too many of those free radicals, I enter a state of oxidative stress. 282 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:36,680 It's this state of oxidative stress that we're trying to control. 283 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:46,040 Oxidative stress is one of the key factors when it comes into quote unquote aging and is a key 284 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:52,920 trigger in a lot of the non-communicable inflammatory issues, stress response disease setup, 285 00:19:52,920 --> 00:20:00,760 where I am sick, but quotes around the sick, where I am sick, but I'm not contagious. So 286 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:06,680 non-communicable disease typically comes about from oxidative stress. Now the other thing comes 287 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:11,240 about from oxidative stress is what we typically think about when we think about quote unquote aging. 288 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:21,800 So when I am quote aging, end quote, I am building up oxidative stress. One of the ways in which we 289 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:30,280 can see how much oxidative stress is occurring is to look at grain of hairs, the loss of the melanin 290 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:37,640 pigmentation within the hair follicle due to accumulation of super oxides. Other things to 291 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:44,120 look at in terms of oxidative stress as it relates to non-communicable diseases are a lot of the wear 292 00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:50,280 and tear breakdown that we might see within the body as we get quote unquote older. And so what 293 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:55,800 are some of these things that are going to contribute to oxidative stress? The accumulation 294 00:20:55,800 --> 00:21:05,080 of super oxide formations. Super oxide formations are a lot of the peroxides that can form within 295 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:13,960 chemical reactions. Low density lipoprotein oxidized molecules. This is where we have to worry about 296 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:20,760 high amounts of LDL levels within our cholesterol molecule measures within our cardiovascular 297 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:29,400 functions leading to atyloscorosis, quote unquote hardening of the arteries. And that is because the 298 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:39,160 LDL oxidized molecule, the oxidized LDL molecules is a free radical and can lead to oxidative stress 299 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:49,400 within the cardiovascular system. A whole host of lipid peroxides as well as nitrous 300 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:56,440 theels. And nitrous theels are going to come about from excessive amounts of protein degradation, 301 00:21:56,440 --> 00:22:03,560 breakdown of proteins and reactions with nitrates and amino acids. Now it can't just be just because 302 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:08,360 of accumulations. We have a whole bunch of antioxidants that are naturally occurring within 303 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:14,840 the body, both enzymatic as well as non-enzymatic. If I start losing my antioxidant molecules 304 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:20,920 because I'm in a constant state of stress or I'm in a constant state of oxidative stress, 305 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:27,480 or if I am constantly being sick, I'll see a loss of my antioxidant molecules from within my body. 306 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:35,240 And so a reduction of things like cytochrome C, coenzyme Q within the liver NADPH or NADBH2, 307 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:43,560 superoxide demutase, luthionine peroxidase. Those two are very important enzymes within 308 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:51,720 the antioxidant reactions. Reduction of specific antioxidant vitamins such as vitamin E, 309 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:56,600 vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin A, and then a few of the vitamin Bs. 310 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:04,840 A loss of luthionine from our diet can also lead to oxidative stress or a loss of the ability to 311 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:09,400 produce luthionine can lead to excessive oxidative stress. 312 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:21,640 And so when we look at this, what is the outcome of either having too many radicals or 313 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:27,800 not enough antioxidants? When we're in a state of oxidative stress, we have an increased risk 314 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:36,040 for developing things like metabolic diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disease. 315 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:42,280 When we talk about metabolic diseases, one of the ones that everybody knows about is type 2 diabetes, 316 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:48,040 which everybody somehow links to the type 2 diabetes syndrome. 317 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:54,280 Cardiovascular disease is predominantly going to be due to atherosclerotic changes, 318 00:23:55,160 --> 00:24:00,520 quote unquote stiffening of the arteries, which leads to hypertension, high blood pressure. 319 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:07,880 Oxygen is a very important enzyme in the blood, and it's a very important enzyme in the blood. 320 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:12,440 So, we're going to be looking at the type 2 diabetes syndrome, 321 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:21,080 which leads to a high blood pressure. Oxidative stress can actually cause changes in gene 322 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:29,400 expression, and particularly expression of distinct oncogenes. And oncogenes are the genes that 323 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:33,560 are going to trigger cancer growth within the individual. 324 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:39,560 And so what are some of the various types of oxidative stress diseases that we might have? 325 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:46,920 Things like retinol degeneration, macular degeneration, possible cataract formations within the eye. 326 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:58,600 Early, quote unquote aging, excessive inflammation, susceptibility to infection, 327 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:01,960 early wrinkling, 328 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:11,240 dermatitis within the skin, expression of things like eczema, risks for skin cancers, 329 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:25,240 expression of possible autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. 330 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:31,160 Within the bones and within the joints of the body, development of osteoarthritis, 331 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:34,520 what people usually refer to as simply arthritis. 332 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:43,560 Cardiovascular, we can have hypertension. We can have what's referred to as cardiomyopathy taking place. 333 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:49,400 That is where the muscles of the heart are going to be affected. 334 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:58,520 And then we have cardiomyopathy taking place. That is where the muscles of the heart will grow larger than what the muscles of the heart should grow. 335 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:03,640 So as to overcome the excessive blood pressure that the heart has to pump against. 336 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:10,600 The high blood pressure and the cardiomyopathy can lead to heart failure. 337 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:21,320 We can get cirrhosis of the liver. We can get renal nephritis, inflammation within the nephrons of the kidney. 338 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:23,800 We can get chronic kidney diseases. 339 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:32,600 What is very interesting is that a lot of the neurodegenerative diseases that we wanted to attribute to specific things 340 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:37,720 seem to come about due to excessive oxidative stress, particularly dementia, 341 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:47,560 Alzheimer's disease, increased risks for people who have bipolar issues, expression of bipolar issues, 342 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,400 people who are susceptible to migraines. 343 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:55,000 Excessive oxidative stress can trigger migraines. 344 00:26:55,000 --> 00:27:04,040 One of the ways in which migraines can come about is associated with fluctuations of 345 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:15,800 estrogens within the body and that has to deal with estrogen's ability to regulate antioxidants and control oxidative stress. 346 00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:29,480 And so there is some susceptibility, particularly for females, within menstrual cycles when we have estrogen spikes and estrogenators 347 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:39,320 high amounts of estrogen and low amounts of estrogen to have migraine issues, particularly within their menstrual cycles. 348 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:50,360 And so a lot of these issues with oxidative stress and the need to have antioxidants has led to recommendations by registered dieticians 349 00:27:50,360 --> 00:28:00,200 and by many of the dietician associations that we need to eat foods with antioxidants, which is true. 350 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,920 We do need to eat foods with antioxidants. 351 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:08,200 And this is where we get the adage that we should be eating the rainbow. 352 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:14,920 And when we say eat the rainbow, we want to make sure is that we're eating foods that have a variety of colors within it. 353 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:28,680 And that's because the colors that we see, particularly within our fruits and vegetables, is going to provide the base materials necessary to build the antioxidants that we need within the body. 354 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:40,680 Especially if we have any of the warning signs that we would need additional antioxidants, such as being sedentary, eating foods with high amounts of trans fats, 355 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:45,480 eating foods with high amounts of saturated fats, smoking, drinking. 356 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:54,600 But what that doesn't mean is that we have to have more antioxidants within the diet than what we should have within the diet. 357 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,760 And so what are the antioxidants going to do to help with oxidative stress? 358 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:04,520 They're going to help to temporarily bind on to those free radicals. 359 00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:09,240 And so what are the ones we're going to get from our diet that are going to help us to get rid of the antioxidants? 360 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:15,000 The ones that are going to help us get rid of the antioxidants that we're going to get from our diet that are beneficial to us? 361 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:25,960 Things like vitamin C, coenzyme Q, beta carotene and vitamin A, vitamin D, our flavonoids, our retinols, zinc. 362 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:34,120 Are all antioxidant molecules or parts of antioxidant molecules that we can get from our diet. 363 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,880 But once again, that doesn't mean that we have to over consume them. 364 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:40,680 We need to consume them, but we don't need to over consume them. 365 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:48,840 And the indication that some of these quote unquote superfoods have higher amounts of these 366 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:58,920 molecules and minerals within them relative to other foods is not an indication that it's going to provide any additional benefit 367 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:04,680 than we might get simply from eating the rainbow, eating foods that have multiple colors. 368 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,080 Not just eating beige. 369 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:13,080 And by eating beige, we're simply saying, don't just eat one type of food. 370 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:25,000 But the thing we have to remember is that most of the antioxidants that we're going to be utilizing in our body come from the body. 371 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:27,240 And we're going to try to keep everything in balance. 372 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:39,240 This means that if we start to over consume the antioxidants, the body is going to slow down the rate at which we're producing those antioxidants. 373 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,400 We're going to try to keep everything in balance. 374 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:43,960 The body wants to make sure that we don't have too much. 375 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:45,240 We don't have too little. 376 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:46,520 We want to be just right. 377 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:51,320 I usually talk about this in terms of making sure that we are baby bear. 378 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:54,200 Not too hot, not too cold. 379 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:55,160 Just right. 380 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:56,840 Not too soft, not too hard. 381 00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:57,320 Just right. 382 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:04,360 A lot of people mistakenly think about this as being in the Goldilocks zone, but it's not really about being in Goldilocks zone. 383 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,760 It's about being in the baby bear zone because the body wants to be baby bear. 384 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:10,520 It doesn't want to be too much. 385 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:11,640 It doesn't want to be too little. 386 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:12,840 It wants to be just right. 387 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:24,520 And so when we have normal consumption of antioxidants, when we're eating a colorful diet, 388 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:31,720 when we are physically active, we're able to produce the antioxidants that the body needs. 389 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:43,080 The more active we are, the more antioxidants the mitochondria within the cells will produce to help us out with any type of free radicals that might come from our energy metabolism. 390 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:48,600 If we are eating all of the stuff that we should be eating, meaning that we're not eating beige, 391 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:56,840 the liver is getting all of the nutrients the liver needs to get in order to make sure it's able to do its detoxification reactions 392 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:05,960 and it's able to do its reactions to eliminate any of the super oxides and free radicals that might come about from 393 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:12,520 the detoxification reactions so that we're able to stay relatively healthy. 394 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,080 And so remember, we want to keep everything in balance. 395 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:23,240 Everything needs to be kept in balance so that we don't go too far to one side or too far to the other side. 396 00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:34,120 And the amount that we eat for these antioxidants is going to be the amount that we eat for the rest of our body. 397 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:42,920 The amount we eat for these antioxidants, the amount we eat based off of our need, is very, very small. 398 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:47,800 We're talking milligrams and micrograms for most of them. 399 00:32:47,800 --> 00:33:00,600 And if we over consume them, it can lead to issues. 400 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,600 And the issues that can come about include things like oxidative stress. 401 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:16,680 There was a story that came out 20, 30 years ago now, almost 40 years ago now, 402 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:22,680 about consuming vitamin C as a means to prevent cancer. 403 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:30,120 And that's because if we can reduce oxidative stress, we can reduce any of the genetic 404 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,040 issues that can come about from oxidative stress on the genes. 405 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:40,440 And vitamin C is a very good antioxidant at controlling oxidative stress on DNA. 406 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:51,080 But what the research showed is that if we actually wash cells with, if we give these cells too much of the antioxidant, 407 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:56,280 it actually causes oxidative stress that the vitamin C was supposed to counterbalance. 408 00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:04,200 And so it actually doesn't reduce the cancer risks. 409 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:09,000 There was, and once again, this statement came out almost 50 years ago now, 410 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:16,280 about consuming vitamin C in order to offset symptoms of the cold, the common cold. 411 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:21,240 And that's because when I get sick, I increase my oxidative stress and vitamin C 412 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,080 is going to help reduce that oxidative stress. 413 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:33,000 And somehow it's going to make me healthier or it's going to offset the cold and make the cold go away faster. 414 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:35,240 And we found out that that's not true. 415 00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:40,040 There is no empirical evidence to support those two things. 416 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:47,640 Now there's this add zinc to diet when you get the cold. 417 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:52,440 And you do, and you may need more zinc when you are sick, 418 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:59,240 as zinc is a co-factor that comes into play with immune function and regulation of oxidative stress, 419 00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:03,240 as well as activation of some enzymes within the immune pathways. 420 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,000 But once again, you don't need excessive amounts of it. 421 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:14,360 And the problem is that all of the supplements that are out there tend to have excessive amounts of all of these substances. 422 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:19,800 And so why is it that having too much is a bad thing? 423 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:22,920 And that's simply because they're going to try to make stable molecules 424 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:28,280 in the same way that the radicals are going to try to make stable molecules. 425 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:32,360 And in doing this, they're going to create more radicals within the cells 426 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:35,400 and within the body than what would have been there normally. 427 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:42,200 And so why is exercise going to control ROS formation? 428 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,320 And once again, it doesn't matter what type of exercise that we do, 429 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:50,920 whether it is body weight exercising or endurance exercise 430 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:58,920 or weightlifting, resistance to weight lifting, 431 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:04,280 or resistance training. 432 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,000 It doesn't matter how we exercise. 433 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,400 Exercise is going to help control ROSs, 434 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:13,960 is going to help control ROSs by regulating mitochondrial functions 435 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:21,720 and by generating additional antioxidant molecules coming away from the mitochondria. 436 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:27,080 But beyond that, exercise is going to help control the mitochondria. 437 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:31,640 And in doing that, exercise is going to help with controlling ROSs 438 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:34,840 by increasing a few things and decreasing a few things. 439 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:39,400 It's going to increase the antioxidants coming away from the mitochondria. 440 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:44,280 It's going to help with increasing the clearance of lipids 441 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:48,680 and nitrogenous oxidizers from the blood. 442 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:50,920 It's going to start metabolizing those 443 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:57,320 and creating the chance for those molecules to become free radicals. 444 00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:01,800 It's going to increase the conversion of the low density lipoproteins 445 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:04,680 to the high density lipoproteins. 446 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:08,360 And that has to deal with what the lipoproteins are doing for the body 447 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:12,520 in terms of moving things around, which we'll talk about in a different talk. 448 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:19,960 By increasing the rate at which metabolism is taking place during exercise 449 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:23,640 by increasing the flow rate of blood around the body 450 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:30,040 and excretion of materials either onto the skin through sweat 451 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:33,240 or by increasing the filtration of blood 452 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:35,640 following exercise at the kidneys or at the liver, 453 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:40,200 we're able to clear things that might become free radicals. 454 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:46,760 But we're also able to reduce the things that can become free radicals. 455 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:48,360 And that is key point here. 456 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:50,680 We're going to decrease stuff as well. 457 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:54,840 We're going to decrease inflammation signals. 458 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,920 If I can decrease inflammation signals, I decrease the hormonal signals 459 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:01,720 that can lead to free radical formations. 460 00:38:03,720 --> 00:38:07,880 And by reducing inflammation signals, I'm able to increase 461 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:15,400 my level of health and reduce my level of oxidative levels. 462 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,160 My level of oxidative stress. 463 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,440 So why do I need to avoid alcohol? 464 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:27,400 Why do I need to avoid trans fats? 465 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:31,160 It's not about what's happening at the tissues within the body. 466 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:34,040 It's about what's happening specifically at one spot, and that's at the liver. 467 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:40,040 It's all about what's happening at the liver in terms of metabolism in the liver 468 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:44,680 that's attempting to quote unquote detoxify and eliminate metabolic wastes. 469 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:51,640 And what is happening within the liver is that we're going to have a whole host 470 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:54,120 of metabolic functions that come into play here. 471 00:38:55,320 --> 00:39:01,960 And as the metabolic functions that come into play, we're going to produce waste products 472 00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:07,560 and we're going to produce super oxides and free radicals. 473 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:12,440 When we look at the production of the super oxides and we look at the production of the 474 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:16,120 free radicals, all of these things will be eliminated from the body. 475 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:19,720 They're either going to be eliminated from the body through transportation to the sweat 476 00:39:19,720 --> 00:39:26,040 glands to be released as sweat, transportation to the kidneys to be released as urine, 477 00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:32,920 or are going to go into the formation of bile to be excreted into the intestines 478 00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:38,440 to be eliminated from the body to be removed from the body during defecation. 479 00:39:39,720 --> 00:39:43,480 Now, if you look here, we have distinct free radicals that are going to form. 480 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:52,600 And the distinct free radicals are forming is based off of the rate of the transformation steps. 481 00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:59,480 The rate at which we are undergoing reactions to the body is going to be 482 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:07,880 the rate at which we are undergoing reactions of the toxic material of the metabolites in circulation 483 00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:13,240 that are going to lead to super oxides and free radicals, 484 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,160 ROSs, RNs, RSSs. 485 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:22,200 And what we're going to attempt to do is we're going to attempt to use our enzymes 486 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:29,800 and our coenzymes and our cofactors in an attempt to temporarily bind onto these radicals. 487 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:32,280 And there's a reason why I want to bind onto these radicals, 488 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:36,600 because we want to reduce oxidative stress within the liver cells. 489 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:42,760 We want to reduce the oxidative stress within the liver cells until we can get these 490 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:48,440 molecules out of the liver and out of the body. 491 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:55,480 And that's because when we have an excessive amount of metabolic stress taking place within 492 00:40:55,480 --> 00:41:00,520 the liver, we end up having oxidative stress injury. 493 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:05,720 And oxidative stress injury triggers an inflammatory response taking place within the liver itself. 494 00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:11,560 And this inflammatory process within the liver is going to activate a specific type of cell, 495 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:14,280 what's sometimes referred to as a stellate cell. 496 00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:19,080 And what the stellate cell does is it starts to cause clots to form within 497 00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:22,120 a region of the liver known as the sinusoid. 498 00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:29,720 And what this does is this causes a blockage of flow in an attempt to protect the hepatocytes, 499 00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:35,640 the liver cells, from experiencing any type of additional injury. 500 00:41:37,720 --> 00:41:41,640 And what this clot formation ends up doing is it ends up blocking the cell 501 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:47,560 and what this clot formation ends up doing is it ends up blocking blood flow through the liver. 502 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,960 But the problem is that blood flow is going to keep coming into the liver 503 00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:55,000 and it's going to cause additional stress. 504 00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:59,480 And the additional stress is going to cause additional activation of stellate cells, 505 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:04,920 which is going to cause additional activation of the clotting issues that take place, 506 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:07,640 which leads to something known as fibrosis. 507 00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:14,200 Fibrosis, if it becomes excessive, is where oxidative stress within the liver itself 508 00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:15,480 leads to cirrhosis. 509 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:21,000 This is where we can get two distinct types of cirrhosis or two distinct types of liver 510 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:24,440 diseases taking place due to oxidative stress. 511 00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:32,520 It can come about from excessive consumption of ethanol, alcohol, 512 00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:37,160 which is referred to as alcohol fatty acid liver syndrome, 513 00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:41,480 or it can come about from excessive consumption 514 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:51,800 of non-alcoholic factors, which will lead to oxidative stress, 515 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:55,960 which include things like excessive consumption of trans fats, 516 00:42:55,960 --> 00:43:03,480 excessive consumption of carbohydrates, in particular fructose-based carbohydrates. 517 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:11,800 And fructose is one of the units of the sugar that we find within table sugar, sucrose, 518 00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:15,800 is the table sugar, which is made up of a glucose and a fructose. 519 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:20,200 If I'm consuming a large amount of sugar, 520 00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:24,120 I'm going to be consuming a large amount of fructose. If I'm consuming large amounts of 521 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:27,320 things that have what's usually as high fructose syrup, 522 00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:31,800 the most prominent type of high fructose syrup is high fructose corn syrup, 523 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:39,480 which adds just a few percentages more fructose than what we get from normal sucrose. 524 00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:45,560 But what that does is that causes additional oxidative stress to the liver, 525 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:50,200 which triggers additional activation of stellate cells, which causes that same type of fatty acid 526 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:58,280 issue to develop, leading to possible cirrhosis of the liver, all due to fibrotic changes, 527 00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:05,880 clotting, in an attempt to save the hepatocytes from having additional oxidative stress. 528 00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:10,400 So, what we're seeing is that the liver is not going to be able to 529 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:15,640 save the hepatocytes from having additional oxidative stress. 530 00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:22,440 And so, if I'm able to consume additional amounts of 531 00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:32,360 the enzymes, coenzymes, and cofactors necessary to limit the amount of oxidative stress taking 532 00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:37,240 place within the liver as the liver is doing its detoxification reactions, 533 00:44:37,240 --> 00:44:46,200 I'm going to be able to limit the amount of either fatty acid, not to be non-alcoholic fatty acid, 534 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:52,520 or alcoholic fatty acid liver issues coming about within the liver, leading to the fibrosis 535 00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:59,640 and the eventual cirrhosis that can take place within the liver disease issues. 536 00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:06,040 And this is where, if I'm eating large amounts of trans fats, if I'm eating large amounts of high 537 00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:14,280 sugar, if I'm consuming large amounts of alcohol, but I'm not counterbalancing that with the 538 00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:20,040 consumption of antioxidants, I'm going to have the excessive oxidative stress taking place 539 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:26,600 and the potentiation to have cirrhosis or anti-oxidation. 540 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:34,600 And the potentiation to have cirrhosis or I'm going to have an increased relative risk for developing cirrhosis. 541 00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:44,200 Okay. We also said something about avoid smoking. Well, why do I need to avoid smoking? Now, here's the thing. 542 00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:49,400 Most of the smoking research is strictly about tobacco smoke. 543 00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:56,520 But we have recently noticed with the change in materials being smoked that it doesn't matter 544 00:45:56,520 --> 00:46:05,080 what is being smoked, whether it is tobacco smoke, hemp smoke, or the vape smoke, the electronic 545 00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:11,720 e-cigarettes or the vape pens. It doesn't matter what's being smoked. All of them are going to 546 00:46:11,720 --> 00:46:20,760 increase oxidative stress within the respiratory tract, within the lungs, within the trachea, 547 00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:25,880 and within the bronchioles. And what this is going to do is this is going to trigger inflammation 548 00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:31,480 within the respiratory tract, but it's also going to be able to be absorbed very quickly because of 549 00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:38,280 the types of cells that we have within the lungs, which is going to trigger ROS and radical formations 550 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:44,840 outside of the lungs by triggering immune activity within the respiratory tract. 551 00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:49,160 We're going to get high amounts of inflammation taking place within 552 00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:52,760 the lungs, high amounts of inflammation taking place within the respiratory tract 553 00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:58,120 due to what's referred to as the volatile chemicals that we see within the smoke material. 554 00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:04,680 When we say volatile chemicals, what we're talking about is we're talking about chemicals that are 555 00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:12,040 airborne. And so a lot of times we can actually see the same type of issue come about 556 00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:23,640 from people who are exposed to things that are very similar to smoke but are not actual smoking 557 00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:31,480 things. So people who are exposed to car exhaust and large amounts of car exhaust, people who 558 00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:39,800 are firefighters that are exposed to burning buildings or anything that happens to be combustible, 559 00:47:41,240 --> 00:47:48,760 auto mechanics, people who go to auto racing, are exposed to large amounts of exhaust of 560 00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:57,880 burnt hydrocarbons, burnt fuels that increase the volatile chemicals in the air that can trigger 561 00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:03,400 the same ROS issues that can come about from smoking. It's one of the reasons why if you're 562 00:48:04,120 --> 00:48:09,560 an outdoor exerciser like myself, you want to make sure you look at the air quality index 563 00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:15,880 relative to when you plan to go and work out outside and modulate your activity based off 564 00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:20,520 of what the air quality index is telling you because that's the indication of the level of 565 00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:26,040 volatile chemicals in the area that you're going to be exercising in. And what's that oxidative 566 00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:33,480 stress going to lead to? The oxidative stress is going to lead to the cancers, lung cancer, 567 00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:41,080 respiratory cancer, COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, emphysema. We could see 568 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:46,120 things like bronchitis come about. We could see things like asthma come about. Asthma is 569 00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:51,000 an immune response and the more oxidative stress that I have taking place, the more likely I am 570 00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:58,600 to have an asthmatic response taking place. If you can't avoid trans fats, if you can't avoid 571 00:48:58,600 --> 00:49:06,040 trans fats, if you over consume alcohol or if you cannot avoid over consuming alcohol, 572 00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:13,640 if you can't avoid smoke, and remember it's not just about you being the smoker, it's avoiding 573 00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:21,560 the smoke, then we know that taking the antioxidants might be of benefit to you. Things to remember 574 00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:29,800 in terms of a take home message. Illnesses lead to increased ROSs, but consuming antioxidants does not 575 00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:40,680 prevent illnesses. Vitamin C and zinc do not prevent getting the common cold. Poor physical 576 00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:48,520 activity leads to increased ROSs by increased inflammation due to issues referred to as over 577 00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:57,800 fatness. These issues are countered by increase of activity independent of any changes that we 578 00:49:57,800 --> 00:50:03,480 might see in body weight or body composition. What we have to remember here is that health 579 00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:12,040 issues are highly complex and to attribute health to a single factor is an oversimplification 580 00:50:15,720 --> 00:50:25,400 health issues are highly complex and to attribute this to a single factor is an oversimplification 581 00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:29,400 and a misrepresentation of the principles of science. 582 00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:37,400 We have a number of issues that will feed onto each other and interact with each other, 583 00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:47,480 leading to one's overall health. And because of the way in which the body functions and the way 584 00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:54,280 in which we function interact with others within our environment, it is almost impossible to 585 00:50:54,280 --> 00:51:02,120 indicate a single factor as the root cause for any of the health issues or as the underlying 586 00:51:02,120 --> 00:51:09,240 principle reason for alleviating health issues. Well, thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. 587 00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:15,240 Hopefully you gained a little insight into some of the aspects of human physiology and health 588 00:51:15,880 --> 00:51:22,120 that gets misrepresented within a lot of the issues that we're going to be discussing today. 589 00:51:22,120 --> 00:51:28,440 That gets misrepresented within a way the way in which we talk about stuff. If you like what we 590 00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:33,080 produce, if you like what we put out, please remember to like and click the subscribe button 591 00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:39,800 so that you can stay update with everything that we are putting out there. If you have specific 592 00:51:39,800 --> 00:51:44,360 superfoods or specific antioxidant substances that you'd like to learn more about, 593 00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:53,720 please drop it in the comments and we'd be more than happy to address those for you.