A Simple Oxidative Stress Definition

What is oxidative stress? In order to have the best understanding of the effects of oxidative stress, you need a good oxidative stress definition. While there are all types of definitions from ones mentioning an imbalance of pro-oxidants with antioxidants, to ones that simply mention damage to the cells from free radicals. However, unless you know what these terms mean, the oxidative stress definition is useless and sounds like a foreign language.

You see oxidative stress if you eat fruit. Just cut open an apple and allow it to sit for an hour. Unless you put lemon juice on the apple, the white on the inside becomes brown. That’s oxidative stress. The lemon juice prevents that because it contains antioxidants.

Oxidation is the loss of an electron. An atom or a group of atoms having an uneven number of electrons, need to stabilize. To do this they seek out other atoms where they can steal on of their electrons to make the outer shell complete; these are free radicals or reactive oxygen species. Chemically speaking, they attract the electron from the cell, creating a new chemical composition from the atom from where they took it. If the electron came from the semi-permeable outer shell of the cell, it might change the structure from semi-permeable and soft to hard and impenetrable. This means no food can flow into the cell and no waste can get out. Eventually, the cell dies.

Antioxidants neutralize the oxidative stress by giving up one of their electrons, so the free radical doesn’t have to combine with the one on the cell. While free radicals can come from toxins in the environment, smoking, the rays of the sun and other factors we face daily, one big contributor to oxidative stress is reactive oxygen species or ROS. They include peroxides and oxygen ions. These are free radicals with unpaired electrons, but they come from something you do all the time, metabolize oxygen. They do play an important role in the functioning of the body, as long as they don’t increase from outside sources or internally if there’s some type of stress on the cells. Then, these normal ROS molecules increase and you have oxidative stress, damage to the cells from the oxygen molecules, since your body doesn’t produce enough antioxidants to prevent it.

Everyone makes antioxidants. If you don’t, you’d age much faster and die very quickly. The older you get, the fewer free antioxidants your body makes. Luckily, you can add more antioxidants to help fight off other stresses from environmental problems or replace the antioxidants the body no longer produces. Of course, in a perfect world, this would mean you’d never age, but it isn’t perfect. While you can’t permanently put off aging, you can slow it down and live a healthier life by consuming foods high in antioxidants.

Disease and aging both occur because of oxidative stress. The changes, which occur in the cell, can cause damage to the inner structure of the cell, changing its DNA or the outer structure, killing the cell. Some of the diseases include cancer, heart disease, diabetes and atherosclerosis. In atherosclerosis, the oxidation occurs on the fat in the blood, making it thick and sticky and inflames the vessel walls so it sticks and hardens. These are just a few of the examples of diseases caused by oxidative stress, there are far more.

One way to fight oxidative stress is to make healthy choices when it comes to food and know your Oxidative Stress Biomarkers. You’ll find many different kinds of foods are high in antioxidants. While your body requires numerous phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals to function, it also requires antioxidants.

Now that you know the oxidative stress definition, you’ll never have to ask again, “what is oxidative stress and how does it affect me?”

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