Oxidative stress or oxidation puts a coating of oxidation (rust) around each cell, puts extra fluids between the cells, decreases cell to cell communication and decreases lymph, blood, nutrition, and chemical flow to the cells. It can be caused by ingesting too many oxidants such as msg, aspartame and sugar or it can be caused by a disease or contamination and is usually caused by both. Oxidative stress is simply the chemical process present in every illness.

Understanding oxidative stress is probably the most important aspect you need to understand to restoring and maintaining good health. Sadly few in the health industry, either main stream or alternative understand the importance of oxidative stress. The main stream medical community completely ignores it and the alternative does not understand it although they often prescribe diet changes that help reduce it.

Oxygen is a free radical and can cause oxidative stress, the minute we are born we begin to die and our life span and our health may be largely determined by our balance between oxidants and antioxidants.

Some claim we must have a ratio of 30% oxidants to 70% antioxidants to be healthy. This means understanding and controlling oxidants is one of the most important things we need to know to be healthy.

Oxidative stress is a root cause of most diseases and is one of the primary causes of Metabolic Stress. When it is not the cause of a disease it can be caused or increased by the disease. This makes treating it and Metabolic Stress an important aspect to restoring health. A new discovery is that oxidative stress can be the root cause of depression see Brain Injury

Oxidative stress is the balance between pro-oxidants and antioxidants. To better understand this process see our pages on Oxidant, Antioxidants  , KappaB and disease.   The pro attribute of oxidation (which may be KappaB) creates or develops an oxidant (free radical) that is harmful to the body and the anti means it kills or removes the harmful oxidant. Thus oxidative stress is caused when the pro's are greater than the anti's. All diseases are claimed to be the result of oxidation (KappaB) and oxygen.

Note: comments in [these colored brackets] and bold text is to help interpret the following article with difficult medical language.

1. "Public Med PMID: 8660387 The Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, "Albany Medical College, NY 12208, USA.  Biochem Soc Symp. 1995;61:1-31 "The paradox of aerobic life, or the 'Oxygen Paradox', is that higher eukaryotic aerobic [oxygen breathing] organisms (this includes humans] cannot exist without oxygen, yet oxygen is inherently dangerous to their [our] existence [the same process that gives us life, damages body tissues]. This 'dark side' of oxygen relates directly to the fact that each oxygen atom has one unpaired electron in its outer valence shell, and molecular oxygen has two unpaired electrons. Thus atomic oxygen is a free radical and molecular oxygen is a [free] bi-radical. Concerted tetravalent reduction of oxygen by the mitochondrial electron-transport chain, to produce water, is considered to be a relatively safe process; however, the univalent reduction of oxygen generates reactive intermediates. The reductive environment of the cellular milieu provides ample opportunities for oxygen to undergo unscheduled univalent reduction. Thus the superoxide anion radical, hydrogen peroxide and the extremely reactive hydroxyl radical [three free radicals that do oxidative damage and drive Diabetes] are common products of life in an aerobic environment, and these agents appear to be responsible for oxygen toxicity [damage done to body tissues by the process of life]. To survive in such an unfriendly oxygen environment, living organisms generate--or garner from their surroundings--a variety of water- and lipid-soluble antioxidant compounds [everything before this is P#1] [Vit. A, E & C are just three of many antioxidants we get from food]. Additionally, a series of antioxidant enzymes, whose role is to intercept and inactivate reactive oxygen intermediates [oxygen free radicals], is synthesized by all known aerobic organisms(P#2) [the human body has a very complex system to protect us from damage]. Although extremely important, the antioxidant enzymes and compounds are not completely effective in preventing oxidative damage. To deal with the damage that does still occur, a series of damage removal/repair enzymes [from our immune system), for proteins, lipids and DNA, is synthesized(P#2] [our immune system makes inflammatory agents that remove damaged tissue & replaces it with new, the entire process must be carefully and tightly controlled, if not the immune system goes hyperactive and adds to the damage process] Finally, since oxidative [and other] stress levels may vary from time to time [injury, infection, smoke, toxins, over work, poor diet, etc produce more damaged tissue that needs to be removed & replaced] , organisms are able to adapt to such fluctuating stresses by inducing the [increased] synthesis of antioxidant enzymes and damage removal/repair enzymes(P#2) [the Immune/inflammatory system that removes/replaces damaged tissue must increase production dramatically to keep up with damage]. In a perfect world the story would end here; unfortunately, biology is seldom so precise. The reality appears to be that, despite the valiant antioxidant and repair mechanisms described above, oxidative damage remains an inescapable outcome of aerobic existence.[from here to bottom is all P#1] In recent years oxidative [and other] stress has been implicated in a wide variety of degenerative processes, diseases and syndromes] oxidative stress damage from oxygen radicals activates and drives the destructive process of Diabetes, a properly controlled immune system would stop the process. Unfortunately the Diabetic body is unable to give proper control and the immune/inflammatory system adds an uncontrolled inflammatory immune system attack to compound the process], including the following: mutagenesis, cell transformation and cancer; atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis, heart attacks, strokes and ischaemia/reperfusion injury; chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus [lupus is from a genetic defect allowing high levels of hydroxyl radicals, rampant production of defective autoantibodies and poor immune / inflammatory system control] and psoriatic arthritis(and diabetes); acute inflammatory problems, such as wound healing; [proper wound healing is from the properly controlled immune system removal/replacement of damaged tissue] photo-oxidative stresses to the eye, such as cataract; central-nervous system disorders, such as certain forms of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, certain glutathione peroxidase-linked adolescent seizures, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's dementia [all underlined diseases have oxidative damage and an overactive, uncontrolled immune system driving or at least adding to the disease process] and a wide variety of age-related disorders, perhaps even including factors underlying the aging process itself. Some of these oxidation-linked diseases or disorders can be exacerbated, perhaps even initiated, by numerous environmental pro-oxidants and/or pro-oxidant drugs and foods [anything that produces damage will stimulate a strong immune system inflammatory response and make it harder to control]. Alternatively, compounds found in certain foods may be able to significantly bolster biological resistance against oxidants. Currently, great interest centers on the possible protective value of a wide variety of plant-derived antioxidant compounds, particularly those from fruits and vegetables [anything that protects the body, lowers the demand on the immune system, making it easer to control]."(1)x

2. "University of Valencia: "Oxidative stress may be defined as an imbalance between pro-oxidant and antioxidant agents, in favour of the former (Sies, 1986); this imbalance may be due to an excess of pro-oxidant agents, a deficiency of antioxidant agents or both factors simultaneously. The origin of oxidative stress is an alteration of the redox status in cells, leading to a cellular response to counteract the oxidising action (Sies, 1986). Pro-oxidant agents are all those that can directly or indirectly oxidise molecules. The most important pro-oxidant agents in biological systems are those derived from oxygen, more commonly known as reactive oxygen species." (2)x

3. "Wikipedia "Oxidation reactions (pro-oxidants) can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves. As a result, antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols or polyphenols." (3) (4)x

4. "Wikipedia: Pro-oxidants are chemicals that induce oxidative stress, either through creating reactive oxygen species or inhibiting antioxidant systems.[1] The oxidative stress produced by these chemicals can damage cells and tissues, for example an overdose of the analgesic paracetamol (acetaminophen) can cause fatal damage to the liver, partly through its production of reactive oxygen species.[2][3] Some substances can act as either antioxidants, or pro-oxidants, depending on the specific set of conditions.[4] Some of the conditions that are important include the concentration of the chemical and if oxygen or transition metals are present. While thermodynamically very favored, reduction of molecular oxygen or peroxide to superoxide or hydroxyl radical is fortunately spin forbidden. This greatly reduces the rates of these reactions, thus allowing aerobic life to exist. As a result, the reduction of oxygen typically involves either the initial formation of singlet oxygen, or spin-orbit coupling through a reduction of a transition-series metal such as manganese, iron, or copper. This reduced metal then transfers the single electron to molecular oxygen or peroxide.(5)

5. "OXIS International "Many free radicals are the result of naturally occurring processes such as oxygen metabolism and inflammatory processes." (6)

6. "The Weston Price Foundation "Oxidative Stress (OS) is not, in and of itself, a disease but a condition that can lead to or accelerate it. OS occurs when the available supply of the body's antioxidants is insufficient to handle and neutralize free radicals of different types. The result is massive cell damage that can result in cellular mutations, tissue breakdown and immune compromise."(7)

7. "Nutritional Medicine Ray D. Strand M.D. "Most of us can simply look forward to suffering and dying from heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, macular degeneration, and the list goes on and on, unless we literally attack the underlying cause of all of these diseases—oxidative stress." (8)

8. "Smoking causes Oxidative Stress "There are several likely ways that cigarette smoke does its damage. One is oxidative stress" (8)

9. "AJP Lung Cell Molecular Physiology:  "Cigarette smoke extract induces oxidative stress and apoptosis in human lung fibroblasts" (9)

10. "Wikipedia: "Pro-oxidants are chemicals that induce oxidative stress, either through creating reactive oxygen species or inhibiting antioxidant systems.[1] The oxidative stress produced by these chemicals can damage cells and tissues,..." (10)

11. "Anilitical Research Lab: "Free or unbound copper, however, is quite toxic. Copper is a powerful oxidant, meaning it can inflame the tissues and cause oxidant damage." (11)  See our page on copper

12. "Laboratory of Natural Medicinal Compounds, Migal-Galilee Technology Center, Kiryat Shmona, Israel.

Oxidative stress (OS) is linked to the development of human diseases. Early identification of OS-associated diseases is essential in the control of their progression and treatment. Efforts have been undertaken to identify reliable endogenous markers, which correlate with the progression of a disease in an organ undergoing OS. An ideal biomarker must be validated, utilize noninvasive sampling, and have a simple, specific and highly sensitive detection method. Among the currently used markers assessing OS, are those that are nonspecific (peroxide value [PV], conjugated dienes [CD], thiobarbitoric acid reactive substances [TBARS]), and others that measure end-products of oxidized degradation biomolecules (isoprostanes, oxysterols, keto-proteins, 8-oxodeoxyguanosine), whose accumulation is not necessarily correlated with augmented OS. The search for a more reliable marker necessitates new approaches to fulfill such requirements and overcome many of the obstacles associated with the current markers. We suggest a new strategy of using designed exogenous novel reporters, constructed from endogenous subunits, that are sensitive to reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) and commonly known to react with them, forming specific oxidized products. These subunits are tyrosine (representing proteins), bonded covalently to linoleic acid (representing polyunsaturated fatty acids) forming an amide bond, which can be further connected through an ester bond to a third unit, either to cholesterol (representing sterols) or to 2'-deoxyguanosine (representing DNA). Oxidation of the designed probe can outline, in real time, the formation of oxidation products and distinguish them from intrinsic biomolecules, provide information about the relative subunit susceptibilities to a specific oxidant challenge, and allow for the assessment of the utility of intervention, such as antioxidant supplementation. By utilizing such markers, it may be possible to correlate between the damaged fingerprints of the marker and the specific pathological conditions. The above markers were tested to characterize OS in in vitro and in in vivo experiments, such as in those carried out in human fluids (blood, serum, saliva), tissues (brain or muscle homogenates), and cells (macrophages, astrocytes, neurons), pertaining to OS-associated diseases, such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease.PMID: 19082934 (12)

Summary: When the terms oxidation and redux have been used in the past I was totally confused and wondered not only what it means but why it is important to health. The short explanation is that chemical reactions called oxidation cause damage to our cells just like rust on steel. It is the attachment of damaging electrons to our cells. The term redux is the chemical removal of the rust like attachments. Oxidation is claimed to be one of the two causes of every disease.

Wilkipedia: "Oxidizing and reducing agents Substances that have the ability to oxidize other substances are said to be oxidative and are known as oxidizing agents, oxidants or oxidizers. Put in another way, the oxidant removes electrons from another substance, and is thus reduced itself. And because it "accepts" electrons it is also called an electron acceptor. Oxidants are usually chemical substances with elements in high oxidation numbers (e.g., H2O2, MnO4-, CrO3, Cr2O72-, OsO4) or highly electronegative substances that can gain one or two extra electrons by oxidizing a substance (O, F, Cl, Br).Substances that have the ability to reduce other substances are said to be reductive and are known as reducing agents, reductants, or reducers. Put in another way, the reductant transfers electrons to another substance, and is thus oxidized itself." (1)

Blurtit: "The chemical process of oxidation occurs when a particular material or a compound combines with oxygen, and in the process, gives up a few of its electrons. As a rule, an addition of oxygen has to compulsorily be with a certain amount of reduction. Examples of oxidation include burning and rusting although, both occur at very different speeds. Oxidation reactions are also known as Redox (the word come from reduction-oxidation) reactions, those in which the oxidation number of atoms is altered. Therefore oxidation essentially refers to the loss of an electron by an atom, a molecule or an ion." (2)