Madam Regina was involved in a serious motor accident which left her hospitalised with multiple injuries. Her left side became weak and numb, and the doctors were worried she had suffered a stroke.
Six months later and having seen several physicians, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
One of the great causes of oxidative stress is injuries or major surgeries. The trauma of the accident had triggered the multiple sclerosis!
Madam Regina was treated with chemical drugs to boost her immune system – very expensive and very hard to tolerate. She reacted negatively to this medication and became very sick. The side effects were terrible. She had bouts of depression and faced the possibility of sudden blindness.
She suffered like this for four years, trying alternative therapies but steadily declining in health. Finally, she decided to try taking potent nutritional supplements in an attempt to slow down the progression of the disease. She started with some strong antioxidant drinks and mineral tablets, along with a natural nutrient called Coenzyme Q10. Within weeks, Madam Regina began to feel better.
She applied certain principles that will be shared below and was able to win the war within. She kept providing enough antioxidants and their supporting nutrients to restore balance to her body and bring the oxidative stress back under control. She built up her body’s natural immune system while improving her body’s natural repair system.
Heart disease: An inflammatory disease
Contrary to popular opinion, cholesterol is not the culprit behind heart disease; the inflammation of the blood vessels is.
There are two kinds of cholesterol, the high density lipoprotein (HDL) and the low density lipoprotein (LDL). Both are needed in the body. Problems only occur in the body when free radicals change or oxidise native LDL cholesterol. It is this modified LDL cholesterol that is truly “bad”!
Apart from cholesterol, other factors that create inflammation of the blood vessels are caused by free radical damage from cigarette smoking, hypertension, fatty foods, diabetes and homocysteine.
The good news is that antioxidants and their supporting nutrients (nutritional supplements) can significantly reduce or entirely eliminate inflammation of the blood vessels. Nutrients are not drugs; hence they are best taken as antioxidants. To halt oxidative stress, the body needs enough antioxidants to handle all the free radicals, and the antioxidants need all the supporting nutrients to do their job well. These ingredients work in synergy, as they accomplish the ultimate goal of defeating oxidative stress.
High level of homocysteine is implicated in cardiovascular disease – coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, heart attacks and strokes. It is an intermediate byproduct that we produce when our bodies metabolise (break down) an essential amino acid called methionine. Methionine is found in large quantities in our meats, eggs, milk, cheese, white flour, canned foods and highly processed foods. Our bodies need methionine to survive. Our bodies normally convert homocysteine into either cysteine or back to methionine again.
Both cysteine and methionine are benign products and are not harmful in any way; however the enzymes needed to break them down need folic acid, vitamin B12 and Vitamin B6 to do their job. Unlike cholesterol, which the body needs for the production of certain cell parts and hormones, homocysteine provides no health benefit. Thus, the lower the level, the better.
Everyone should be careful of the amount of meat and dairy products they consume. Eat more fruits and vegetables, as well as vegetable protein. Our nutritional supplements must include vitamins E, C, Selenium, Vitamin B2, Niacin, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, Glutathione and Bioflavonoids.
(Continues next edition)
References :
What your Doctor doesn’t know about Nutritional Medicine may be killing you – Ray D. Strand, M. D.
