Oxidative Stress: Not Always Bad. Here’s Why.
Oxidation has a terrible reputation. Numerous research papers link it with inflammation, aging, and chronic diseases.
The Primary Source of ROS
Let’s talk a little about chemistry.
Oxidation occurs when oxidants—also called reactive oxygen species (ROS)—steal electrons from other molecules.
Oxidation occurs everywhere and every day; it is the browning of sliced apples left out, the rusting of iron pipes, and also the daily activity of your mitochondria.
Mitochondria, the powerhouse of our cells, are also the body’s primary producers of ROS. When mitochondria are producing energy, these oxidants are formed as byproducts.
Your body naturally and constantly balances against this process.
Cells make antioxidants to address the amount of oxidants being produced. “There’s a nice balance; the cells have figured that piece out,” chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner Dr. Eric Balcavage told The Epoch Times.
You only need to be worried when the balance is out of whack.
Excessive oxidation, or oxidative stress, can damage cells and tissues. Oxidants may steal electrons from DNA and organelles, making them unstable. The latter then restabilize themselves by stealing electrons from other places, triggering a cascade of damage throughout the cell.
ROS Could Be Necessary and Protective
However, the common notion of oxidative stress might be a misunderstanding. The cell’s tendency to go into oxidative stress is actually “not a bad thing when done at the right time and place,” said Dr. Robert Naviaux, a professor of medicine specializing in mitochondrial disease and genetics at the University of California–San Diego.
ROS production is a necessary and highly coordinated reaction to infection and toxins.
Cells have a whole host of genes associated with ROS, he told The Epoch Times. During infections from pathogens, ROS are released as a signal and weapon.
Pathogens like bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites steal or divert the cell’s electrons and fuel for their own use. Mitochondria respond by reducing energy production and increasing oxidative stress to deter invaders.
Immune cells release ROS to eliminate forthcoming pathogens and to break down pathogens and infected cells. T cells, which form the final line of defense, use hydrogen peroxide—also an oxidant—to punch holes in infected cells and bacteria.
But constantly being in a state of oxidative stress is not healthy for the body, either, and neither is the long-term discomfort it causes.
On the other hand, people who cannot generate ROS can have disastrous health outcomes.
The most damaging pro-inflammatory disorder currently known is chronic granulomatous disease, Dr. Naviaux said. Children with this disease are genetically unable to make superoxide, a class of ROS.
“The body’s reaction to this [deficiency] is an intensified inflammation that is so bad that [patients] can have severe, erosive sinus infections [that] can erode cartilage in their nose,” Dr. Naviaux said.
Oxidation to Cope With Disease
Oxidative stress may also be a sign of the body trying to adapt to chronic disease the best way it can.
One example is the increase in oxidation to adjust to nutritional excess—the driver of Type 2 diabetes.
Research has shown that in people with Type 2 diabetes, the body becomes less inclined to use oxygen to break down glucose, thus producing less energy. The oxygen in the cells is converted to oxidants and exported from the cell for disuse.
Since aerobic respiration, which uses oxygen to create energy, occurs under normal health conditions, many researchers consider a decline in such respiration to be a sign of mitochondrial dysfunction.
However, an alternative explanation is that this shift is deliberate and may be the body’s best way to handle nutrition and energy excess, Dr. Naviaux reasoned.
Nevertheless, this metabolic shift can become a chronic problem because, over time, the body reduces its demand for oxygen. This leads to fewer blood vessels and tissues becoming chronically deprived of oxygen, which can manifest as peripheral vascular disease, ischemia, loss of organ function, and heart failure.
Other adaptations have been observed in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
“People with COPD are very uncomfortable doing exercise because they can’t breathe very well. So what ends up happening is these individuals end up being very inactive and sedentary,” professor Martin Picard from Columbia University, specializing in mitochondrial research, told The Epoch Times.
Oxidative Stress Is What Makes Exercise Beneficial
Oxidation is necessary in ot
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