On the topic, as oxidation is a pretty prevalent negative side effect of living, our body has multiple mechanisms to deal with it, no? So my question is: where do the “antioxidants” that we can eat come into the picture here? Are they like preventing oxidation from even occurring, or are they like the shields that our cells use to protect themselves from oxidative stress, or what have you?
we have enzymes to prevent oxygen radicals from forming. such as Superoxide dismutase, which is present in nearly every cell in our body, and we have 3 different version. most oxygen dependant organisms have similar enzymes.
another fun fact, our immune system can produce the same superoxide as a defense against bacterial infections, reactive oxygen species including radical oxygen. but bacteria can produce the enzyme to neutralize that too.
i think the dietary source, is somewhat alittle homeopathic/ pseudosciency, because our stomach acid would probably neutralize any beneficial effect before we can absorb it. of course there are some foods that provide nutrional benefit to certain cells(if they a chemical compound). but they dont have like anti-oxidant effect of something like superoxide dismutase. also because of this effect, people with chronic illness as a result of the dysfunction.
Oxidation is the loss of electrons, whereas reduction is the gain of electrons. The mnemonic is OIL RIG: Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain.
Oxygen is highly electronegative (second only to fluorine), meaning that it will strongly attract electrons. So, oxygen is good at oxidizing things. It’s good at stealing their electrons. (When the oxygen takes the electron, the oxygen becomes reduced!)
The reason that oxygen is so important in your body for respiration is because of its high electronegativity. It is used as the final electron acceptor in a chain of chemical reactions that are used to convert high energy molecules that you’ve eaten into different high energy molecules that your body can use.
Think of the analogy of a staircase and a ball. The ball is an electron and the stairs are energy states of different molecules along the metabolic pathway. As the ball goes down the stairs, the electron loses energy (which is usually converted to ATP or NADH). At the bottom of the stairs is oxygen, once the electron gets there, it doesn’t have anymore potential energy to lose, unless maybe you have some fluorine around. The final, reduced state of oxygen in this pathway is carbon dioxide. It’s no longer useful for respiration and thankfully can just be exhaled. How convenient!
An oxygen missing an electron (an oxygen radical) is highly reactive. This is not good. It’ll just steal an electron from whatever molecule is nearby. That may be DNA or any other molecule that it’s in your best interest to keep intact. Antioxidants are helpful as electron donors, neutralizing radicals before they do damage.
Cell mechanisms cause oxidative stress in the body which can lead to inflammation and faster aging. Antioxidants provide the body with an easy way to neutralise the bi-products.
I actually thought about this a few years ago, is it possible that we age because of oxidation to some degree? Is there a way to prevent that? I thought about it, how blood can rust and just had the connecting thought but I’m not smart enough to know if there’s any actual correlation.
Edit: Got some really cool responses out of this to think about, thank you everyone!
Pretty sure oxidation plays a major role in aging, but can’t tell you the exact mechanism, I have no idea about it.
But about the blood rust idea, I don’t think that can work, cause we don’t have just iron particles that can directly interact with oxygen just floating around in our blood, we have a complex (I.e. hemoglobin) that contains significant amounts of iron, which somehow makes it really good for binding to and carrying oxygen.
Deviating a bit, carbon monoxide poisoning is really akin to suffcation iirc, cause it binds and occupies the hemoglobin, effectively reducing the amount of oxygen that can be carried by your blood.
However, do fact check me, I might be wrong about something…
Edit: BTW, it seems that “oxidation” might not be the right term to use here, so do understand that I am referring to free radicals here.
You’re pretty much right about everything. Oxygen (especially as free radicals) is damaging to pretty much all your tissues, so your body moves it around in little bodyguard proteins (hemoglobin). These each contain 4 small iron molecules as part of the much bigger structure and doesn’t rust or function like iron in any way. The iron is mostly used for electrons (and also damages your body if it’s not inside the hemoglobin and causes more aging)
Carbon monoxide has a higher affinity for hemoglobin than oxygen, so it sticks to your blood cells and makes them useless for hours. Super dangerous.
Point being “oxidative stress” is bad for you and a major cause of aging that your body tries to fight. If your body doesn’t fix this well, you age faster. If it repairs damage too well, you’re more prone to cancer. Just wear and tear of using your body.
So to the original question of can this process be stopped… Absolutely! Hold your breath - the oxygen will stop coursing through your body and you will stop aging. Just ten minutes is enough to end aging indefinitely! Then you have to worry about other problems like body decomposition, but the oxidative stress will be cured!
I’m no expert but I’m fairly sure that is basically true in a way. As per zr0’s top-level comment. Forms of life that can make do with less cellular respiration, for example by using external sources to regulate temperature (cold- blooded), don’t need to invite as much oxygen into their cells, and so they get less weird damage over time.
Mammals in general have not adopted this strategy.
On the topic, as oxidation is a pretty prevalent negative side effect of living, our body has multiple mechanisms to deal with it, no? So my question is: where do the “antioxidants” that we can eat come into the picture here? Are they like preventing oxidation from even occurring, or are they like the shields that our cells use to protect themselves from oxidative stress, or what have you?
we have enzymes to prevent oxygen radicals from forming. such as Superoxide dismutase, which is present in nearly every cell in our body, and we have 3 different version. most oxygen dependant organisms have similar enzymes.
another fun fact, our immune system can produce the same superoxide as a defense against bacterial infections, reactive oxygen species including radical oxygen. but bacteria can produce the enzyme to neutralize that too.
i think the dietary source, is somewhat alittle homeopathic/ pseudosciency, because our stomach acid would probably neutralize any beneficial effect before we can absorb it. of course there are some foods that provide nutrional benefit to certain cells(if they a chemical compound). but they dont have like anti-oxidant effect of something like superoxide dismutase. also because of this effect, people with chronic illness as a result of the dysfunction.
Oxidation is the loss of electrons, whereas reduction is the gain of electrons. The mnemonic is OIL RIG: Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain.
Oxygen is highly electronegative (second only to fluorine), meaning that it will strongly attract electrons. So, oxygen is good at oxidizing things. It’s good at stealing their electrons. (When the oxygen takes the electron, the oxygen becomes reduced!)
The reason that oxygen is so important in your body for respiration is because of its high electronegativity. It is used as the final electron acceptor in a chain of chemical reactions that are used to convert high energy molecules that you’ve eaten into different high energy molecules that your body can use.
Think of the analogy of a staircase and a ball. The ball is an electron and the stairs are energy states of different molecules along the metabolic pathway. As the ball goes down the stairs, the electron loses energy (which is usually converted to ATP or NADH). At the bottom of the stairs is oxygen, once the electron gets there, it doesn’t have anymore potential energy to lose, unless maybe you have some fluorine around. The final, reduced state of oxygen in this pathway is carbon dioxide. It’s no longer useful for respiration and thankfully can just be exhaled. How convenient!
An oxygen missing an electron (an oxygen radical) is highly reactive. This is not good. It’ll just steal an electron from whatever molecule is nearby. That may be DNA or any other molecule that it’s in your best interest to keep intact. Antioxidants are helpful as electron donors, neutralizing radicals before they do damage.
Ok, I’m going to make a new nutritional supplement: “oops! all electrons!”
antioxidants are our internal sacrificial anodes?
Cell mechanisms cause oxidative stress in the body which can lead to inflammation and faster aging. Antioxidants provide the body with an easy way to neutralise the bi-products.
I actually thought about this a few years ago, is it possible that we age because of oxidation to some degree? Is there a way to prevent that? I thought about it, how blood can rust and just had the connecting thought but I’m not smart enough to know if there’s any actual correlation.
Edit: Got some really cool responses out of this to think about, thank you everyone!
Pretty sure oxidation plays a major role in aging, but can’t tell you the exact mechanism, I have no idea about it.
But about the blood rust idea, I don’t think that can work, cause we don’t have just iron particles that can directly interact with oxygen just floating around in our blood, we have a complex (I.e. hemoglobin) that contains significant amounts of iron, which somehow makes it really good for binding to and carrying oxygen.
Deviating a bit, carbon monoxide poisoning is really akin to suffcation iirc, cause it binds and occupies the hemoglobin, effectively reducing the amount of oxygen that can be carried by your blood.
However, do fact check me, I might be wrong about something…
Edit: BTW, it seems that “oxidation” might not be the right term to use here, so do understand that I am referring to free radicals here.
You’re pretty much right about everything. Oxygen (especially as free radicals) is damaging to pretty much all your tissues, so your body moves it around in little bodyguard proteins (hemoglobin). These each contain 4 small iron molecules as part of the much bigger structure and doesn’t rust or function like iron in any way. The iron is mostly used for electrons (and also damages your body if it’s not inside the hemoglobin and causes more aging)
Carbon monoxide has a higher affinity for hemoglobin than oxygen, so it sticks to your blood cells and makes them useless for hours. Super dangerous.
Point being “oxidative stress” is bad for you and a major cause of aging that your body tries to fight. If your body doesn’t fix this well, you age faster. If it repairs damage too well, you’re more prone to cancer. Just wear and tear of using your body.
So to the original question of can this process be stopped… Absolutely! Hold your breath - the oxygen will stop coursing through your body and you will stop aging. Just ten minutes is enough to end aging indefinitely! Then you have to worry about other problems like body decomposition, but the oxidative stress will be cured!
Carbon monoxide, not dioxide.
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I’m no expert but I’m fairly sure that is basically true in a way. As per zr0’s top-level comment. Forms of life that can make do with less cellular respiration, for example by using external sources to regulate temperature (cold- blooded), don’t need to invite as much oxygen into their cells, and so they get less weird damage over time. Mammals in general have not adopted this strategy.