Archive for oxidative stress
CLA Causes Isomer-Dependent Oxidative Stress and Elevated CRP – (10-10-02)
Posted by: | CommentsCLA Causes Isomer-Dependent Oxidative Stress and Elevated CRP
Before you run for your biochemistry book, let me give you a quick refresher. Conjugated linoleic acid has two main forms: t10c12 and t9c11. These are pretty evenly mixed in most commercial preparations of CLA. However, negative side effects such as fatty liver have been observed with its use. This study and others point the finger at the t10c12 isomer as the main culprit. What does this mean? Nothing right now, but keep an eye out for preparations with only the t9c11 isomer in the future.
Circulation — Abstracts: Risérus et al. 106 (15): 1925
Diet, Exercise on BP, Insulin, Oxidative Stress, NO Availability – (10-31-02)
Posted by: | CommentsDiet, Exercise on BP, Insulin, Oxidative Stress, NO Availability
Need I say more? Obviously this wasn’t sponsored by the makers of Lipitor or Atenolol. 30-45 mins exercise per day and dietary modifications for 3 weeks. 3 weeks!!! That’s all it took to affect these markers. And yet, recommendations such as these are low on the list of what most patients get. I remember a 19-year old patient who found out she had cholesterol in the 300′s and triglerides in the upper 400′s. A CARDIOLOGIST told her to just eat a low fat diet. She was. Gummi bears, pop, twizzlers….Roberts et al., 10.1161/01.CIR.0000040584.91836.0D -
Flavonoids in grape juice protect the LDL from becoming oxidized – (12-05-02)
Posted by: | CommentsComparison of antioxidant effects of Concord grape juice flavonoids & alpha-tocopherol on markers of oxidative stress
While the findings that flavonoids in grape juice have potent antioxidant properties should not drop anyone’s jaw, this is a good time to remind everyone that, while we throw on our blinders and look only at cholesterol as the “bad guy” in CVD, the reality is that LDL cholesterol does not do any damage until the LDL itself gets damaged. The flavonoids in grape juice protect the LDL from becoming oxidized.
AJCN — Abstracts: O’Byrne et al. 76 (6): 1367
Effect of vitamins and aspirin on markers of platelet activation – (06-23-03)
Posted by: | CommentsEffect of vitamins and aspirin on markers of platelet activation, oxidative stress and homocysteine in people at high risk of dementia.
It was nice to see therapeutic levels of the vitamins used in this study. Many times the researchers will use levels just barely above the RDA and when the findings do not show a benefit, the results are plastered all over the news. Here we see 1 mg of B12 (something like 15,000 times the RDA) and 2 mg of folic acid (5X). The antioxidant levels are not as high as I would like but they still showed lowering of markers of oxidative stress.
Antioxidants lowers the efficacy of the chemotherapy treatment – (07-02-04)
Posted by: | CommentsLow antioxidant vitamin intakes are associated with increases in adverse effects of chemotherapy in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Many oncologists are fearful to use antioxidants during chemotherapy, since many of these drugs are designed to kill rapidly dividing cells via oxidative stress and the theory is that antioxidants would lower the efficacy of the treatment. This just does not hold up in the research, and antioxidant supplementation, just like in this study, does nothing but help the treatment.
AJCN — Abstracts: Kennedy et al. 79 (6): 1029 -
Oxidative Capacity, Lipotoxicity, Mitochondrial Damage in Type 2 Diabetes – (07-02-04)
Posted by: | CommentsOxidative Capacity, Lipotoxicity, Mitochondrial Damage in Type 2 Diabetes
It’s always nice to have articles validating a multi-pronged approach to treating chronic diseases. While paying attention to the glycemic indices of a diet, it is also important to provide a multitude of compounds from foods that lower oxidative stress. In this review, oxidative stress was noted to be a contributing factor to onset of diabetes by affecting mitochondrial function. Basically, insults to the body (or, normal everyday living without the nutrients to protect our cells) will result in an increase in the machinery of our cells to defend against the insults. The mitochondria of our cells will produce more energy but, as a power station producing electricity, more “smoke” will be produced along with the extra electricity. Without protection (in the form of antioxidants, protective enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, etc…) from the “smoke” (i.e. free radicals, oxidative stress) the “smoke” will turn around and damage the mitochondria. More damage to the mitochondria means the cell will no longer function optimally.
Diabetes — Abstracts: Schrauwen and Hesselink 53 (6): 1412-
Is fibromyalgia a physiological problem or psychological? – (02-16-04)
Posted by: | CommentsIncreased DNA fragmentation and ultrastructural changes in fibromyalgic muscle fibres
This article is pretty interesting. We’ve spent much time trying to determine if fibromyalgia is a physiological problem or psychological. I’ve never been a fan of the diagnosis and I feel that FM is just a “catch-all” term made by physicians that don’t understand physiology. Many of the symptoms of FM can relate to GI complaints, mitochondrial defects or unregulation of the immune system. The findings in this study match what I’ve always felt.
This small study finds damage to the DNA and lowered levels of mitochondria in patients with FM. This could be a result of increased oxidative stress with inability of the cell to keep up. Ultimately, lowered energy production (decreased ATP production) will result in easy fatigue ability of the muscles. Further “sickening” of the cell could result in DNA damage from increased oxidative stress. This all points to a global approach to FM–cleaning up the lifestyle, increased intake of fruits and veggies, and targeted nutritional supplementation to support healthy cellular metabolism.
Ann Rheum Dis — Abstracts: Sprott et al. 63 (3): 245 -
INCREASED OXIDATIVE STRESS IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM – (12-15-04)
Posted by: | CommentsMETABOLIC BIOMARKERS OF INCREASED OXIDATIVE STRESS AND IMPAIRED METHYLATION CAPACITY IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
Ditto to above, with the addition that increased antibiotic use will destroy normal bacterial flora in the gut, and this bacteria can be a strong source of Vit B12. So, could destruction of normal flora with antibiotics be a contributing factor to the increase in autism? Overall, the sad thing is that many of these kids have horrendous diets. My wife had done in-home daycare for awhile. One of the kids she used to watch had a long list of psychological diagnosis, of which ADD was on the list. This same child used to come to the house in the morning eating candy bars for breakfast…
PROTECT BRAIN FROM EFFECT OF OXIDATIVE STRESS – (12-09-04)
Posted by: | CommentsNEUROPROTECTIVE ROLE OF MELATONIN IN OXIDATIVE STRESS VULNERABLE BRAIN
In doing some research on how to protect the brain from this onslaught of oxidative stress, I was somewhat surprised to find articles on the ability of melatonin to increase the enzymes responsible for quenching free radicals such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase. Live and learn, I guess. Entrez PubMed -
DYSFUNCTION AND STRESS CAUSE OF EPILEPTIC SEIZURES – (12-09-04)
Posted by: | CommentsMITOCHONDRIAL DYSFUNCTION AND OXIDATIVE STRESS: CAUSE AND CONSEQUENCE OF EPILEPTIC SEIZURES
Regular readers of the Updates know that I feel oxidative stress and subsequent oxidative stress (or vice versa) is an underlying mechanism for many chronic conditions.
The research supporting the link between mitochondrial dysfunction and seizures is getting stronger, and yet most physicians (neurologists included) are blissfully unaware and still say diet and vitamins have no impact on seizures. That statement alone proves they have not cracked a medical journal in at least the past year.
Here’s the scenario I envision…picture the state of a neuron with poor cellular health. Mitochondria under oxidative stress unable to produce sufficient ATP or too much free radical damage to its own DNA (with poorer repair mechanisms than cellular DNA). We lose ATP in the cell or even loss of the number of mitochondria within the neuron. Couple this with poor quality fats in the cellular membrane and it is not hard to envision a state where the neuron may spontaneously depolarize–the capacitance of the cellular membrane is much reduced and just can’t hold a charge. Seizure activity results. ScienceDirect – Free Radical Biology and Medicine : Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress: cause and consequence of ..
