By Man Found Standing, Native American Practitioner

Free Radicals

By now, most people have become aware of antioxidants and free radicals.  Simply put, free radicals are oxygen atoms or oxygenated molecules missing an electron pair.  (The electrons like to stay in pairs.)    Free radicals are unstable and therefore seek to regain stability by gaining that extra electron.  To do so, they must “attack” and steal an electron from a nearby molecule or atom.  In the body, most often this is done by attacking the compounds from which cells are constructed.  This changes the shape and function of the cells along with the changes cause to the DNA, ribosomes, mitochondria, RNA, enzymes, and so forth.

Today, we are exposed to numerous harmful toxic substances that contain free radicals.  They enter the body through the air, especially from exhaust and cigarette smoke, what we consume, notably processed foods, polluted water, and toxic prescription drugs, and are produced as by-products of our own body’s attempt to stay healthy.  In their search for the extra electron they require, free radicals are relentlessly attack cells and causing damage which is difficult for the body to repair.  It is estimated that each of the trillions of cells in the body are attacked over 10,000 times a day.

These harmful free radicals are in abundance everywhere. When a free radical steals an electron from another molecule a new free radical, or oxy-radical, is formed.  This free radical, in turn steals an electron from another neighbor and the process continues. If left unchecked, this process will create damage that begins at a cellular level and as the damaged cells accumulate, the organ systems that they are a part of, start to break down and serious health issues, like cancer, arise.  Free radicals, along with the current modern lifestyle of nutritionally poor diet and excess amounts of stress, create a very poor environment for healthy living.       

Solution

The human body has natural defenses to counteract damage done by free radicals:  enzymes, minerals, and antioxidants.  Antioxidants are truly nature’s answer to free radicals.  Antioxidants are molecules or even a single atom with an extra electron(s).  Antioxidants can donate an electron to a free radical without becoming unstable themselves.  They halt the chain reaction and prevent the damage from continuing.  You only need to look at the face of a 60 year old sun-worshipper to see how cellular damage ages us.  We can see the skin, but we don’t see the accumulated damage to the liver, heart, or the brain.  Meanwhile, arteries get clogged with cellular debris and joints become swollen with chronic inflammation of damaged cells, all directly caused by free radicals.

The body should be getting the building blocks of good health from eating a healthy diet.  Sadly, in this day and age, eating the proper foods and amounts for the body’s intake of nutrients does not happen in almost every single person on the planet.  With our modern lifestyles, antioxidants are needed in vast quantities to mop up and assist in repairing the damage. 

Vitamins C, A, and E contain antioxidants, as do minerals such as germanium.  (Germanium is an oxygen catalyst and one of the most powerful free-radical scavengers found in nature.  It has also been noted for its positive effects against cancer.)  The body’s healthy immune system will produce a great deal of antioxidants and make their impact upon every known disease or illness.  (Click here to read more about the immune system.)

To the Rescue

With modern medicine looking to treat symptoms rather than the cause of the problem itself, many people are now switching to proven natural alternatives.  My all time favorite is a Native American sacred herb called Shiaqga.  Only now, after decades of medical and scientific processes, do modern scientists realize what Native Americans have understood for thousands of years. 

Shiaqga is loaded with germanium and Beta-glucan molecules that cause a system immune modulation and response cascade.  In other words, Shiaqga causes the body to produce a vast number of the specific immune cells needed to make proper use of the antioxidants found in the food you eat, and at the same time it provides a powerful source of antioxidant germanium that you would not normally be able to acquire in any other way.

The biologically active molecules of Beta-glucan have been under serious investigation from major pharmacological studies from numerous American and European universities and hospitals.  They have uncovered these, and many more, healing and beneficial properties of Beta-glucans: antidepressant, anti-diabetic, anti-leukemic, antimicrobial (fungus, bacteria, and virus), anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, regulates blood pressure, reduces cholesterol, promotes healing, and etc.  The Beta-glucans in Shiaqga have been scientifically found to regulate production and function of basophil and eosinophil white blood cells, reducing inflammation, pain and fever.

(Click here to read about my choice in Shiaqga supplements, the Ultra 1 product.)

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