Oxidative Stress

We obtain energy by burning fuel with oxygen--that is, by combining digested food with oxygen from the air we breathe. This is a controlled metabolic process that, unfortunately, also generates dangerous byproducts. These include free radicals--electronically unstable atoms or molecules capable of stripping electrons from any other molecules they meet in an effort to achieve stability. In their wake they create even more unstable molecules that attack their neighbors in domino-like chain reactions. This causes toxic effects that damage all components of the cell, including proteins, lipids and DNA.

Oxidative stress represents an imbalance between the production of oxygen and the body's ability to detoxify and repair the damage caused at the cellular level. In other words, although we need oxygen to live, high concentrations of it are actually corrosive and toxic.

While one antioxidant molecule can fight only one or two free radicals before it is depleted, the body's free radical-fighting enzymes can each eliminate up to 1 million molecules per second, every second. The most effective way to fight free radicals and the oxidative stress they cause is to trigger the body to produce its own free radical-fighting enzymes. Protandim activates the body's natural enzymes that subtantially reduce free radicals.