anti-oxidants versus oxidation
Posted by: Richard
Date: November 23, 2004 7:08 AM
Please reconcile the "apparent" contradiction in using oxidation, via hydrogen peroxide and the benefits of taking anti-oxidants. Are these two strategies, both aimed at improving ones health, counterproductive? Can we (I) experience benefits from both "therapies?"
RE: anti-oxidants versus oxidation
Posted by: Ron Kennedy, M.D.
Date: November 23, 2004 7:25 AM
Life is a dance which involves the transfer of electrons between atoms and molecules. Electrons being passed in one direction is called oxidation, in the other reduction. Both are necessary for life. Without oxidation one would die immediately, same for reduction. Our minds think in terms of good and bad, so oxidation has taken the bad role and "anti-oxidation" the good position. However, this is simply an illusion required of having a human mind. Oxidation and reduction are not good or bad, they just are. What is necessary for health is a balance between the two, that is the well lubricated transfer of electrons. The term "anti-oxidant" is a misnomer. They would be better termed oxidation/reduction regulators since they accept electrons and pass them along the chain of life. They are analogous to the oil in an engine - they allow the life processes to run smoothly. When we tilt the balance toward either oxidation or reduction in medicine we are doing it to achieve a result. Hydrogen peroxide produces singlet oxygen (with a free electron) which has therapeutic effects in many different ways. We give it in minute amounts so as not to tilt the flow of electrons too far in one direction and yet still give the therapeutic results desired. Anything is toxic in excess. You can kill yourself drinking water, so clearly more is not necessarily better. I am not recommending that have hydrogen peroxide therapy or not have it, but clarifying the area of oxidation and reduction for you.