Many people in the world are ageing faster than their usual age due to many reasons, but no matter reason that might caused this, only a deadly chemical compound is behind every reason. I mean every reason that makes quick ageing rapid, and this is Free Radical
Some set of people, you see them looking younger than their age. A 50-year-old man looking like a 40-year-old man. You also see some set of people looking moderate to their age. Meaning, the age and the look perfectly match. Also, you will see some categories which are mostly common that looks older than their age. Like a 27-year-old man, looking like a 35-year-old.
All these categories listed has reasons causing them. Before i proceed with more details, i would like to first discuss about free radicals.
Free radicals are uncharged atoms or molecules that are very reactive and short-lived because they have an unpaired valency electron in an outer shell.
A body that has free radicals, has an unpaired electron. This electron would be looking for a pair up mate, and if it doesn't find, it would start attacking the healthy cells such as cell membranes, proteins and Deoxyribonucleic acid by hijacking their electrons through oxidation making important component of cells to function abnormal which will later lead to death of cells. The more the level of free radicals in the body, the more it becomes toxic to cells. And if this should persist, various kinds of chronic ailments might set in.
Free radicals appearance in our body is triggered by some chemical or biochemical substances. Let's see how...
Factors And Substances Generating Free Radicals
Air Pollution
As we all already known, air we breath in these days are not sterile because of the pollution we have caused to the atmosphere. Actually, this is why we are having global warming issues till date. Instead of the problem to decrease it keeps increasing on daily basis because people can't stop using or buying cars, generators, refineries won't stop operating, people won't stop smoking etc.
According to Dr. Bollinger,
we now know that free radicals similar to those in cigarettes are also found in airborne fine particles and potentially can cause many of the same life-threatening conditions.Source
Carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbon (CFCs), and other pollutants emitted are not just disappearing but going to the atmosphere there by affecting the ozone layer. And meanwhile, before this polluted air goes into atmosphere, it must have first rally round the environment, inhaled by many as oxygen and also touching different individual skins. So doing, every emissions from our car exhaust, generators, refineries etc, to the atmosphere reacts with the air, becomes oxidised and still come back to us as oxygen. People that lives in mega cities or urban areas tends to be affected higher than people in the rural. We should know what I mean here.
Some schools in the US, air filtration system are recommended as part of their facilities. According to the EPA,
One in five schools throughout the US reported unsatisfactory indoor air quality.Source
How do we solve the air pollution problem? Is it possible for human to walk in the street without breathing or allowing air to touch his/her skin? How possible? There should be a solution but before that, let's talk more about what causes free radicals in human body.
Tobacco Smoke
According to Dr. Michael Roizen, MD,
One of the things that make smoking so dangerous is that many of the components of tobacco smoke are oxidants agents that promote chemical reactions with oxygen. Therefore, they also increase the by-products of such reactions, which are known as free radicals.Source
Fried Foods
Fried foods are basically made from fats and oils. Leading to free radicals depends on the storage methods. Like now, if its storage happens to be where there is light or exposure to heat or air, oxidation may occur and this is what will bring about free radicals. And if free radicals are set in, these are what would bring offensive odors from these products.
The main reason for this problem is because of how we store or handle some fat and oil products in our local and modern markets. Products like vegetable oil, butter, grounnut oil, etc, are meant to be kept or store at a particular temperature which are not done that way. Sellers in local markets are not well enlightened or I say, are not enlightened at all about the storage of fats and oils products.
These have seen on many occasions in different local and modern market, fats and oil products being placed under intense sunlight that would have exposed to heat for long hours in the aim of displaying market products to customers. This has been a normal routine for mostly all retailers, for they don't see this as an error, but meanwhile, it's a bigger error. How???...
Let's imagine a retailer who engage in fat and oil business comes to shop or store by 8:00 am, he displayed half of his products (margarine, all kinds of edible oils, butter, etc) outside his store for customers attention, and by 6pm he closed. He returned back the remaining displayed products to store that has temperature more than the normal room temperature due to absent of air condition, coolant or heat extractor. Before closing, all products he displayed was under light, heat, let just say for like 8 hours, the following day, same thing was done, I mean products display. This is done on everyday basis. This is exactly how local markets and some modern market operate which is very wrong. It shouldn't be only about the money to be made but also the quality and the safety of the fats and oil products we are buying or selling.
Sunlight hitting the products for long hours in kegs, cans or plastic are what will bring about oxidation which will create free radicals. Consumers now buying this products for our fried foods creates free radicals the more.
When we want to prepare our fried foods, we would definitely heat the fats or oil with high temperature, so doing, the oil becomes more oxidized, therefore producing more free radicals and these are what we consume everyday.
Sunlight
Sunlight is one of the major causes that produces free radicals. If we are under scorching sun for like four hours, (11 am - 3pm), free radicals are tends to develop in our body.
How does this happen?
When we stand under a scorching sun for hours, ultraviolet radiation is emitted from the sun and this contact our skin. When this happens, the electromagnetic radiation combine and react with oxygen present in that particular environment, therefore causing free radicals in our skin. Mostly in Africa, the nature of jobs of some people are to be done under sun for many hours. That's why you will see some young people's skin looking wrinkled or dehydrated and you would be like what happen to them?
Reaction of ultraviolet radiation with oxygen in the air always occur if the sun intensity is very high. So if such air and heat should contact our skin, it also causes a chain reaction of free radicals.
Alcohol
Many brewery industries uses this as food additives especially for beers, ales, wines and so on. The presence of ethanol in all these liquids increases the rate of free radicals generation, thereby decreasing antioxidants level in the body. That's why we see most people addicted to dry gins age faster. They look very old in few years. The worse thing there is, the more intake of gins, the more free radical generation and as the body is ageing quickly due to the healthy cells being destroyed, untimely death might set in.
Have seen many individuals wanting to do a heavy work, but instead of him to eat a good food to have more energy, he would tell you he need to take gin and not food. If this person is addicted to this habit for many years what do you think will happen to him in the future?
Having billions of healthy cells in our body, free radicals are also eager to destroy all these cells in no time once they set in.
There are various kinds of chronic health problems free radicals would generate if level of production is much. It can cause nerve cell injury and leads to various kinds of diseases like cataract, cancer, cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, inflammatory joint disease, asthma, diabetes, senile dementia and so on. What we have to do is to combat it now to avoid health problems in the future.
On this deadly chemical, nobody is free, except a dead man. If you say you don't smoke, you inhale the air around you. If you say you don't take alcohol, at least you eat fried foods. If you say you filter the air in your room, at least you take a public transport or your private car around your city. Free radicals are tends to occur every where. Therefore, since we can't dodge this, we gat to find a way to eliminate this.
How To Eliminate Free Radicals
Only one substance is essential to combat free radicals, this is ANTIOXIDANT. The word "anti" which simply means against or oppose. That is, against oxidation. Antioxidants are also refer to as free radical scavengers.
Though, antioxidants are compound that our body produce naturally but this might not be enough to combat all free radicals so we need to take some as drugs, fruits or vegetables.
Antioxidant can be found in fruits and vegetables. Before proceeding on the kinds of foods, let's talk about how it attack free radicals.
Antioxidants will attack free radicals by donating one electron to make the free radical unpaired electron even. It's the unpaired state of free radicals that makes it move around looking for a single electron to pair with, but if no any, it would bounce back to the healthy cells and become very toxic to cells. So since antioxidant will give one electron, free radical unpaired electron will pair it up. This will make free radical stabilize and become non-toxic to cells.
Antioxidant Foods - Fruits And Vegetables
Orange, spinach, dark chocolates, pecans, beans, grapes (red ones), plums, strawberries, goji berries, kale, broccoli, rasp berries, mangoes, beets, cherries, wild blueberries.Source¹Source²
All the listed fruits and vegetables above has been ranked very high in antioxidants. These are the best foods to be consumed if one need to increase antioxidant level in the body.
Conclusion
Knowledge is light and ignorance is darkness. It's a good thing to know about free radicals and their harmful effect in the body. For this will make us make a faster move on how to combat the deadly chemical compound.
Thank You For Your Time!
References For Further Reading
https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/foods-increase-radicals-11646.html
https://greenblender.com/smoothies/1711/top-antioxidant-rich-fruits-and-vegetables
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-antioxidants
https://www.sharecare.com/health/impact-nicotine-addiction-on-body/how-smoking-produce-free-radicals
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