Antioxidants 101

To really understand what Antioxidants really are and why they are beneficial to our health, we first need to understand Free Radicals.

Free Radicals are atoms or groups of atoms that contain one or more missing electron particles.  Through normal body functions, a small amount of free radicals are normally present in our bodies.  Under normal circumstances the body can keep free radicals in check, however if there is excessive free radical formation in the body, damage to cells and tissue can occur.  A free radical may only exist for a tiny fraction of one second, but the damage it can cause to the cells around it can be irreversable, especially when it comes to heart muscle cells, nerve cells and our immune system.

Free Radicals may be formed in the body as a result of exposure to radiation, such as from the sun or medical x-rays, or from exposure to pollutants such as tobacco smoke or automobile exhaust.  The polluted environment we live in today serves to create more free radicals than we would have been exposed to just a few decades ago.  Diet can also contribute to the formation of free radicals such as for example consuming foods that have been fried in oils.  Exercise such as weight training or jogging may also create free radicals in the body.

The biggest challenge with free radicals is that when they attack your cells, the resulting mess they leave behind creates even more free radicals which sets off a chain reaction that is difficult for the body to deal with.

Enter the Anti-Oxidant

To protect itself from the harful effects of free radicals, the body utilizes natural compounds called anti-oxidants to neutralize them.  Although antioxidants can be found in whole food sources such as sprouted grains, fruits and vegetables, it is very difficult to get enough anti-oxidants through diet alone.  Taking an antioxidant supplement can minimize the damage of free radicals on your body.  High intakes of antioxidant nutrients appears to be especially protective against cancer.

Antioxidants come in many forms and each type of antioxidant provides health benefits to different parts of the body.  Here is a brief list of some of the sources of antioxidants:

• Alpha-Lipoic Acid
• Bilberry
• Burdock
• Carotenoids
• Coenzyme Q10
• Curcumin
• Falvonoids
• Garlic
• Ginko Biloba
• Gluathione
• Grape Seed Extract
• Green Tea
• Melatonin
• Methionine
• N-Acetylcysteine (NAC)
• Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NADH)
• Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins
• Pycogenol
• Selenium
• Silymarin
• Superoxide Dismutase
• Vitamin A and the Carotenoids
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Zinc

Another recently discovered food that contains one of the richest sources of antioxidants is the Acai Berry.  However, although it would be tempting to simply supplement your diet with one type of convenient and easy to take antioxidant such as Vitamin C, the challenge is that the body needs more than just one type of antioxidant to protect it.  The antioxidants listed above work synergistically to provide the body protection from free radicals.

As such it is imperative that we don’t focus simply on one type of antioxidant.  Instead we should choose supplement products that provide a combination of different types of nutrients and antioxidants for maximum health benefits.

The Truth Behind Your Headaches

Headaches vary from a small nuisance to a debilitating problem that gets in the way of you living your life to the fullest and doing what you want to do. The prevailing belief you will hear from pharmaceutical ads is that headaches are an unwanted, unnecessary part of life you can simply sweep under the rug by popping pills. So you pop in a pill and voila! If you’re lucky, the headache is gone. Some people repeat this process over and over again, until they find themselves popping 3-5 pills per week!

According to an article in 2001 in the New England Journal of Medicine, those who took aspirin or Tylenol at least twice a week for 2 months — were two to three times more likely to have the beginning stages of chronic kidney failure, compared with individuals who did not use these painkillers on a regular basis.

Whatever your reasons for taking over-the-counter or prescription pain killers, they NEVER treat the cause of your pain. They work to silence the body’s attempt to wake you up to your toxic or deficient lifestyle. Here are the most likely reasons I’ve found that my patients will present with headaches: Which one applies to you?

1. Tension headaches are the most common type of headache. Tension headaches result from muscle tension, usually in the neck muscles. These can be thought of as neck headaches. Tension headaches are often correctly diagnosed by your doctor. Their solution will most likely be a pill. The cause is not a lack of pills in your system. The cause of this headache is from improper posture, stress, resulting in lack of motion in the upper back and neck joints in the spine.
2. Migraine headaches are commonly diagnosed. However, I find that they are often over- diagnosed. That is, patients often don’t have migraines when they have been told they do. Additionally, many patients diagnose themselves with migraines – often incorrectly.  A few key symptoms (not all the symptoms) that help to diagnose migraines are: one- sidedness (most migraines are only on one side of your head at a time), light and sound sensitivity (i.e. you want to go into a dark room with no sound), or an aura (a sensation that you are about to get a headache) that lasts for 10–30 minutes. These key symptoms can be accompanied by non-specific symptoms of nausea, vomiting, or anorexia (loss of appetite), and they can be excruciating.
3. Sinus headaches are commonly self-diagnosed - and usually incorrectly. A sinus headache is caused by pressure built up in the sinuses. This happens when you are sick — specifically, with a sinus infection. You will have a runny nose, postnasal drip, and pressure. It will seem as if you have a very bad cold. I can’t tell you how many people have no sinus or cold symptoms - none - yet think that they have a sinus headache.So what kind of headache do many of these non-sinus or non-migraine sufferers have?
4. TMJ headaches. TMJ stands for tempormandibular joint (the name of the jaw joint). The condition is called TMJ dysfunction or TMD (tempormandibular dysfunction). Basically, your jaw apparatus is out of balance and the jaw muscles are in spasm. TMJ headaches are a type of muscle-tension headache. If you have temple headaches you probably have TMJ headaches. I don’t care how many people (or doctors) tell you that you have migraines. TMJ headaches are misdiagnosed most of the time!!! (You can have both types of headaches as well.) The good news: you can find a very effective treatment for TMJ headaches and other headaches if you read further.

There are more uncommon types (cluster headaches, etc) but these are the ones you will most likely encounter.

Think about a smoke alarm going off. When you hear this signal, it’s purpose is to let you know to take action to correct what’s causing the alarm to go off… Put out the fire! What if you pull the plug on the alarm so you don’t hear it anymore? Is the problem solved? No—your house will eventually burn down.

That’s what we are doing when we silence our body with pain killers. The headache goes away and we assume we’ve successfully eliminated it. WRONG!!!! The cause is still there.

What can you do?

Heat, stretching the neck muscles, getting a massage, relaxing, dealing with your stress, and correcting your sitting posture do help.

But the spinal joints that are stuck are STILL STUCK! Chiropractic care works to correct “stuck joints” (called Subluxations) and get them moving again through the adjustment process. On a daily basis we see chronic headache sufferers find the relief they are looking for—a relief of the cause.

Part of your care is also stretches and exercises and advice on how to prevent them from coming on in the first place. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

If you suffer from headaches and live in the Greater Vancouver, BC area, contact the Westgate Wellness Centre before March 31st, 2008 to have Dr. Nima, Liz, or Rafael find the SOURCE of your headaches, and get a free spinal scan with your appointment.

Correct the CAUSE, and let your smoke alarm do the job it was meant to do.