Immune Systems, Pet Nutrition, PET Plus Information

Why is it essential to use antioxidants from a wholefood source, not man-made chemicals?

Table of Contents

Antioxidants are molecules whose job it is to give an electron to a free radical to neutralise it and prevent it from doing harm.

So what is a free radical?

It is an unbalanced molecule, often referred to as an oxygen free radical, although it is not always associated with oxygen. In the structure of an atom or a molecule, electrons circulate in pairs. A free radical is missing an electron in its outer shell and desperately steals an electron from anything it comes into contact with, to make up the pair and become balanced again. This is usually the cell walls which are largely made of fat which easily loses an electron to the free radical. This damages its structure, allowing more free radicals to enter the cell and damage the organelles inside, including the nucleus and the DNA, the chromosomes, the genes, the very heart of every cell. This is why free radicals are so dangerous and are the root cause of cancer and all degenerative diseases.

They are produced by every cell as it produces energy, rather like the exhaust fumes of a car. The more energy is demanded from each cell, for example during exercise, the more waste products are produced, in the form of free radicals. They also come from air pollution, radiation, chemically preserved foods, alcohol, environmental chemicals, smoke, heavy metals, microwaved food and much more.

This shows why antioxidants are so very important. They donate an electron to the free radical to prevent it from damaging the cells. We have all heard that Vitamin E is an antioxidant. So are vitamin C and vitamin A. But in an experiment conducted decades ago (1985-1993) with 29,133 Finnish smokers, it was discovered that taking vitamin E or vitamin C on their own made no difference to the cancer risk caused by smoking. In fact, Vitamin E increased mortality in some age groups. 

How could this be explained?

They discovered that when the isolated vitamin E antioxidant gave its electron to the free radicals in the smoke, it itself became a free radical which seemed to be even more potently damaging than the original free radicals in the smoke. Given antioxidants in a raw, whole food source, there is a system in place to repair damaged antioxidants, called the antioxidant cascade. For example, this damaged vitamin E is repaired by the backup antioxidant vitamin C, which itself then becomes a free radical. In turn, it is repaired by glutathione, the most important intracellular antioxidant, which is then repaired by the NAD NADH pathway. 

There are numerous antioxidant repair cascades but all rely on a vast source of different antioxidants only found in raw, whole food. This is why taking isolated vitamins is not a good idea. In fact, it is positively dangerous! Whole is always best. Nature provides numerous vitamins, minerals, co-factors and other substances which are essential as they work together to form the whole orchestra of life.

This is why PET Plus is so important in the protection of our pets from the ravages of unavoidable free radicals. The vast range of antioxidants provided by the whole foods, especially the wheat grass, barley grass, alfalfa, bilberries and chlorella, work together, synergistically, to neutralize free radicals and enhance our pets’ immune systems, protecting them from cancer and other degenerative diseases.