Marika Sboros
    December 20 2000 at 08:35AM 
 
'Tis the season to be jolly, party all night, eat and drink yourself into a stupor and expose your body to the ravages of free radicals.

Free radicals are highly charged, unstable, reactive energy particles generated in different areas of the body, and formed as by-products of your metabolism.

They are a result of normal body processes, but also of external burning processes such as smoking, burning petrol, exhaust fumes, radiation, frying and braaing food. They are present in chemical solvents, perfumes and drugs.

Free radicals lead to cellular changes which can trigger inflammation, cancer, arterial damage and ageing.

To prevent free-radical damage requires ... lifestyle changes and an adequate intake of antioxidants
The only time we don't produce free radicals is when we are dead.

To prevent free-radical damage requires some lifestyle changes, and an adequate intake of antioxidants - substances which actively and effectively fight free radicals inside the body.

When there is a shortage of antioxidants, our bodies become unable to fight off a free-radical onslaught. This leads to free-radical damage or oxidative stress, as it is known, which has been shown to play a vital role in declining health.

Cape Town research and development pharmacist Brent Murphy specialises in nutritional medicine and phytopharmaceuticals (medicines from plants). He says the Christmas holiday season is fraught with extra free-radical pitfalls.

THE ATTACK
During holiday seasons, especially Christmas and New Year, says Murphy, the typical festive season fare presents us with a "double whammy": more free radicals and less antioxidants available to fight them.
Ultraviolet radiation from the sun... causes the release of free radicals

Christmas meals are chock-full of the foods that cause free radicals to form in the body - meat, butter, margarine, sugar, white flour and alcohol - and prepared by frying, browning, braaing and other cooking methods which "exponentially drive up the free-radical count in the body".

But it is not only the food we eat over the festive season that makes the holiday period a "seething cauldron of free-radical activity".

We tend to drink more alcohol and coffee, both of which eat up the good antioxidants in the body, and cause the free radicals to thrive.

The use of recreational drugs, too, tends to go up during holiday periods, Murphy says - especially Ecstasy, cocaine and amphetamines (speed) that are used at all-night clubs and end-of-year parties.

"The sad fact is that these drugs result in the release of free radicals inside the nerves of the brain itself," he says. "In the early stages no symptoms will be evident, because there are so many brain cells. With time, that situation changes dramatically, as the free radicals do their damage."

Another source of free-radical damage that increases during holiday seasons is sun exposure. Solar radiation - ultraviolet radiation from the sun - causes the release of free radicals.

Sleepless nights from too much party fun-time also result in an increased free-radical burden, says Murphy. If you don't sleep, you don't allow your metabolism to slow down, and since free radicals are produced by the metabolic process, more are produced while you're awake than asleep.

Murphy is not a party pooper. He wants you to have lots of fun, but also to reduce exposure to free radicals and to up your intake of antioxidants during the festive season.

That way, you'll be in better health when the holidays are over, and have the expectation of a longer lifespan.

THE DEFENCE
The best form of defence, of course, is to avoid free-radical foods and drugs completely. If you are dead set on taking them, Murphy says the very least you should do is use a powerful antioxidant. And if you must take recreational drugs, use an antioxidant with specific substances that are able to enter brain tissue, where the free radicals from these drugs do most damage. Not many antioxidant products are able to do this.

A selective combinationof antioxidants in high doses, as well as other essential micronutrients required by active or stressed individuals living in polluted environments, is optimum to keep free radicals in check.

These may include:

Vitamin E, essential fatty acids, and carotenoids, including Vitamin A, beta carotene and lycopene: these are all fat-soluble antioxidants which stake out the vulnerable cell membranes.

Vitamin C: a powerful, water-soluble antioxidant which lives primarily in the water compartment, or blood. As it is not fat-soluble, it offers little protection to cell membranes and other "fatty" structures. But Vitamin C can regenerate spent Vitamin E in the body.

Selenium and zinc: minerals which play key roles in the body's production of antioxidant enzymes. Selenium has the ability to be active in the water- and fat-soluble areas of the body.

Coenzyme Q10 and glutathione: powerful antioxidant enzymes.

OPCs (oligomeric proanthocyanidins): these are found in grape seed and pine bark, and are among the few antioxidants able to cross the brain barrier.

ANTIOXIDANT PREPARATIONS

Super Nutrient and Mega-Potency Antioxidant: a powerhouse, cutting-edge blend of 15 essential ingredients, among them Co-Enzyme Q10, alpha lipoic acid, lycopene, glutathione and OPCs, from Solal Africa technologies. Call (011) 783-3939.

Twenty Four-12: a blend of 12 top nutrients in therapeutic doses, significantly higher than RDAs (recommended daily allowances), from Fine Pharmaceuticals. Call (021) 447-1399.

Prime 3: a full-spectrum antioxidant and phytonutrient blend which includes exclusive use of Siberian Pineapple, shown to have three times the
antioxidant power of other OPCs, from Prime Quest. Call (021) 461-9887 or tollfree 086-010-0245.