ACES – Antioxidants, Antiaging

            Vitamins and minerals, also known as micronutrients, are essential to health and many of them need to be replenished every day. There are a variety of these micronutrients that have one function, some having multiple functions, or another in your body’s system but this paper will deal with four main ones that, with their continued presence in your system, will prolong your potential life span considerably.
            These are vitamins A, C, E and the mineral Selenium. These three vitamins and one mineral have been found to be antioxidants, preventing or slowing down the oxidation of your body’s cells during metabolism and when in contact with free radicals which are contained in pollutants such as smoke, nuclear radiation, pesticides, internal combustion engine exhaust, and the generally polluted air in industrial cities which will contain some, if not all of the aforementioned. Oxidation, caused by free radicals, has been found to be a major contributing factor to the aging process.
            In Kenneth Pelletier’s book Longevity, he cites the work of Lester Packer as saying:

                        If free radical injury constitutes a major environmental
                        cause of aging, then increased dietary concentrations
                        of suitable forms of antioxidants and free radical scaven-
                        gers should afford some protection and could contribute
                        to an organism’s ability to realize its maximum life span.
                        Several studies have shown that dietary supplementation
                        with vitamin E or other antioxidants can, indeed, signifi-
                        cantly increase life span and retard aging changes. 

            In our modern society of machines and engines to facilitate transportation and our work productivity, we should come to the logical conclusion that our atmosphere is most definitely inundated with pollutants, the very same pollutants that irritate the membranes of our eyes, throat, nose, and lungs just by being in and breathing the air around us. The breakdown of these membranes by the pollution in the air is what causes this irritation.
            “Vitamin A”, as Earl Mindell states, “protects mucous membranes of the eyes, mouth, nose, throat and lungs. It also helps protect vitamin C from oxidation.” Vitamin A is fat soluble and your body will store it in the liver but the higher the number of free radicals your body encounters, the higher the need for vitamin A. The reason for this is in the way that vitamin A protects the cell’s membranes. Rich Wentzler has written that “the free radicals prefer attacking vitamin A to membranes, which are preserved at the vitamin’s expense.” This then means that, as the pollution in our cities increases, the intake of vitamin A for the protection of our cell’s membrane’s must also increase, if we intend to attain at least our average life span, let alone an increased life span.
            As vitamin A controls the actions of the free radicals, it also controls the emergence of cancer causing chemicals by reducing oxidation during metabolism. Free radicals by themselves do not cause cancer but, if allowed to go unchecked in the body, they will go “inside the cell to change it to a chemical that really causes cancer,” as Rich Wentzler states.
            Most people feel that their vitamin A intake is sufficient if they eat well consistently but today’s food processing methods and lengthy cooking time can deplete vitamin A, as well as other nutrients, from the food. So, to be sure, fresh food and shorter cooking time coupled with reduced water content, would retain more vitamin A than processed and pre-cooked food.
            It has been found that the fewer the number of illnesses you suffer, the higher the probability of a longer life span. Vitamin C helps prevent many diseases and infections thus making a person less susceptible to illnesses. Vitamin C has also been found to be effective in the treatment of diseases. As Domick Bosco explains: 

                        Vitamin C is also an antioxidant, which means it
                        helps protect cells and tissues from damaging
                        oxidation. This fact alone could account for vitamin
                        C’s usefulness in the treatment of many diseases,
                        since researchers are finding out more and more
                        how really large a role oxidation plays in the
                        disease process. 

            Apart from lower disease incidence, vitamin C by its antioxidant properties, can also protect other vitamins with its presence.  Earl Mindell states that as “vitamin C fights bacterial infections and reduces the effects of allergy producing substances, it also protects vitamins A, E, and some of the B complex from oxidation.”
            Vitamin C has many other functions, some of which haven’t as yet been discovered but, by inhibiting the number of times that a person becomes ill, by protecting the body’s cell’s from rapid oxidation it, in this way, does extend the potential life span of the individual.
            It should be understood that vitamin C is even more easily destroyed than vitamin A within fresh vegetables and fruits and much more so if these foods are processed in any way. Dr. Michael Colgan states that “lettuce stored at room temperature loses 50% of its vitamin C in 24 hours,’ and that “keeping it in the refrigerator results in the same loss in three days.” Vitamin C is water soluble so the less water, shorter cooking time and the fresher the foods you use, the better that food will retain its vitamin C content.
            The best and most important of all antioxidants is vitamin E. Although there is still much controversy over its exact purpose and how much we really need, since no one has yet determined a toxic level and some say there is no toxic level, vitamin E has been the focus of much research in the last few years. As Gary Seldon, writing for the Science Digest puts it: 

                        Vitamin E is basically an antioxidant. It enables each
                        cell to protect its components from undesirable
                        reactions with oxygen during metabolism. Since vitamin
                        E inhibits free radical damage and ceroid formation
                        and since other antioxidants extend the lives of
                        laboratory animals, it would seem logical that vitamin
                        E would also promote longevity. 

            Vitamin E is also a protector of other vitamins, as are vitamin A and C, by preventing their oxidation and it does the same for a few other substances in the body. Earl Mindell says that vitamin E is “an active antioxidant” and that it “prevents oxidation of fat compounds as well as that of vitamin A, selenium, two sulfur amino acids and some vitamin C.
            When oxidation occurs, the body’s cellular membranes are damaged but, with the presence of vitamin E, red blood cells, for example, are given the “maximum protection against membrane destruction” as Earl Mindell puts it.
            Free radicals can also be formed within the body by oxidation when certain chemical reactions with polyunsaturated fats occur, whereby the lipids are converted into destructive peroxides and being heated, such as in cooking and frying, will increase the occurrence of these reactions. The reason for this is that the antioxidants, which these oils naturally contain, are destroyed by heat, thus allowing the lipids to combine with oxygen. As stated in the Complete Book of Vitamins: 

                        Vitamin E is nature’s own antioxidant. That is, it acts
                        to block the oxidation that can turn lipids into harmful
                        peroxides. In a sense, vitamin E could be called a free
                        radical scavenger. It latches on to these trouble-makers
                        and puts them out of action. 

            Pollution contains, as we mentioned earlier, many destructive elements, most of which are the free radicals. One of the most widespread of these pollutants in smog is ozone. There have been extensive experiments with rats in regard to whether vitamin E would really give any protection from this specific elemental component of smog. Researchers conducted an experiment whose results were reported in Environmental Research in June of 1979 and, in Vitamins for Better Health, the experiment was outlined as follows:            

                        When researchers at the University of Kentucky and
                        the University of California at Davis fed rats a vitamin
                        E deficient diet and then exposed them to ozone, the
                        rat’s red blood cells showed significant damage. But
                        cells of other animals fed supplementary vitamin E
                        emerged unscathed. 

            Of course, we know that there are many other detrimental substances in smog but, if vitamin E can be of some use in protecting our blood cells from ozone, by its antioxidant properties, these same properties would logically be able to protect us from some of those other substances as well.
            With further study, it’s been shown that vitamin E does not work as well alone. Coupled with Selenium at a ratio of 25mcg’s to every 200 IU’s of vitamin E, vitamin E’s potency is significantly increased. Earl Mindell has stated in his book The Vitamin Bible that “vitamin E and Selenium are synergistic. This means that the two together are stronger than the sum of equal parts.” Selenium has been found to be part of the antioxidant family, as Earl Mindell goes on to explain that “both vitamin E and Selenium are antioxidants, preventing or at least slowing down the aging process and hardening of tissues through oxidation.”
            In the case of Selenium, there has been an indication that the mineral may have other properties allowing it to counter cancer causing elements. Kenneth Peletier claims that “there is some evidence that inhabitants of geographical areas rich in the antioxidant Selenium, which is a water soluble free radical scavenger, have a significantly lower death rate from cancer.” So, while extending your life span by preserving your body’s cells from oxidation, it also seems to be able to reduce your chances of dying from cancer.
            Now, after all this, it should be understood that all these antioxidants work well alone but that their peak efficiency cannot be reached unless all four are present in proportional quantities and balanced proportions in the body. Of all four, Selenium is the most toxic and needs to have vitamin E in aforementioned ratio not only to maximize vitamin E’s potency but to keep Selenium from becoming toxic. This is definitely a matter of balance.
            It’s only been a few years since all of these vitamins and the one mineral Selenium were found to be antioxidants and, this being the case, there is also much controversy over whether antioxidants really will extend a person’s life. But, then again, 40 to 50 years is nowadays a short life span for a person but a very long time for an experiment to wait and see if antioxidants really will extend the life of a human being.
            In light of all the evidence that was presented here, and there is much more, with experiments on rats and gathering of information of people already older and finding the reasons why some didn’t live as long, it is enough to understand that our present average diets and the polluted environments and foods that are an inescapable part of our daily lives, necessitates a real need for some kind of protection in order for us to be safe and feel secure in nutrition.
            The antioxidants A, C, E and the mineral Selenium, have been found to have the ability to afford the human body at least some  protection and, with their continued use, will not only protect but extend the productive useful life span of the individual.
            In reference to the antioxidants, the old saying “better to be safe than sorry” holds true. You’ve got everything to gain and little to lose, with common sense and moderation applied, by their use. With every bite of food and every breath of air, you take some time from your life. You can at least slow this process down and be safer than you may be, using antioxidants to this end. Keep your eyes and ears open for ground-breaking micronutrient and antioxidant studies. Have a long and healthy, quality life. Adieu. 

Timothy Russell