Oxidative Stress

Oxidative Stress

Excessive concentrations of reacitive oxygen species (ROS) put your body at risk - a situation known as oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress may be due to unhealthy eating habits. Many people eat too much of high-carb foods and meat and not enough fruits and berries. Fruit and veg nowadays tend to be treated with chemicals, destroying part of the natural antioxidants they contain. If you eat an average Western diet, chances are you have a lack of antioxidants, and this may have far-reaching consequences.

What is so insidious about antioxidant deficiency is that we are not aware of the gradual build-up of reactive oxygen species (oxidative stress). Although your defenses may already have been weakened, you may still be thinking that you are in good health. In fact, not until cold or flu viruses or other bugs challenge your defenses will you notice that your immune system is down, allowing viruses and bacteria to make you ill, while other people may remain unaffected.

Unhealthy modern lifestyles put additional strain on your body. These factors are bound to increase pre-existing antioxidant deficiency even further:

- Cigarette smoke, alcohol
- Drugs
- Air pollutants (exhaust fumes, ozone), radiation exposure (UV light, mobile phones)
- Severe physical and emotional stress

As a result, the number of oxygen free radicals in the body increases further. Your body’s antioxidant system may no longer be able to cope with all those free radicals. The resulting cell-damaging oxidative stress may further compromise your immune defenses.