OPC-3 And Antioxidants
OPC-3
Essay on Dietary Supplements
Dietary Supplements
Some manufacturers are marketing supplements that have substances and effects similar to drugs. The FDA is attempting to impose drug status on these supplements and is being challenged in the courts by supplement manufacturers. In this article, I examine the legal debate surrounding the definition and regulation of substances – whether as a drug or a dietary supplement. First, I outline some key differences in the regulation of drugs and supplements and examine the two provisions of DSHEA that blur the distinction. Second, I describe recent attempts by the FDA to clarify the guidelines for defining supplements and their associated health claims, as well as court actions challenging these attempts. Third, I discuss future litigation and other regulatory actions regarding the drug or dietary supplement debate and its implications for marketers, consumers, and policy makers.
Supplements are not required by the FDA to have premarket approval or safety testing, as are necessary for new drugs and food additives. For example, prior to release, a new drug must obtain FDA drug approval through an extensive process that involves preclinical testing on animals, three phases of investigational new drug testing, a new drug application review, and postmarketing surveillance research. Conversely, product testing is not required for any supplement with ingredients that have been present in the food supply prior to October 15, 1994, or that have a history of use or other safety evidence in labeled conditions.
Many supplements were not required to submit evidence because the ingredients were found in food or had been used safely prior to the passage of DSHEA. For those supplements that do not meet these requirements, evidence of safety must be submitted to the FDA 75 days prior to market release. However, this safety information, which could include any citation to a published article may be of questionable quality potentially biased study conducted by the manufacturer, an in vitro rather than human. As a result, the FDA has been put in a policing. Furthermore, DSHEA has made market removal of unsafe supplements more difficult for the FDA.
To be a dietary supplement adulterated and attempt to remove it from the market, the FDA must prove that the product’s ingredient poses a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury, whereas previously, it simply had to show that the ingredient was not generally recognized as safe. In all cases, the FDA now bears the burden of proof on each element to demonstrate that a supplement is adulterated. Furthermore, the safety of a supplement can be judged only against its labeled conditions of use and not unintended or actual consumer uses. If no suggested uses are printed on the supplement label, the FDA must try to prove actual conditions of usage in its enforcement actions.
Dr. M. Cooper provides research and term paper assistance at http://www.TermPaperAdvisor and http://www.TermPapersMadeEasy.com on the world-wide web. Dr. Copper has a M.S. degree in data communications and a Ph.D in Computer Information Systems. He is a retired Army officer and a Vietnam veteran.
Anti-Aging and You!
We are a product of our environment and must be realistic in knowing that the environment is not pure and because of the basic instinct of greed, we are living in a polluted world. The people who live the longest, exist in the high mountains where the air is not polluted, the water is full of healthy minerals and the food is free of synthetic chemicals. In the polluted world, we must recognize that polluted air, water and food produce free radicals and pathogenic germs that cause us to prematurely age with diseases and pain. For those of us that live in the chemical world, we can live 20 years or more longer, if we prevent free radicals and pathogens from shortening our life. Anti-aging depends on fighting free radicals and pathogens. Conventional medicine may let us live 20 years longer, but with the expectation of suffering. Fortunately, the choice is ours.
ANTIOXIDANTS:
Antioxidants are chemicals that defuse free radicals and other biologically damaging molecular fragments in the body.
They consist of nutrients such as Beta-Carotene, Coenzyme Q10, Selenium, Vitamin C and Vitamin E are well known for their antioxidant properties.
Antioxidants are found in a full-range of fruits and vegetables, as well as in some meat, like fish. However, fruits and vegetables are the key source of antioxidants.
Although, our bodies produce its own antioxidants, the level of product declines over time because of environmental factors and through the aging process.
ANTIOXIDANT THEORY — HOW THEY WORK:
Free Radicals
As part of the normal cell function, cells make toxic molecules called free radicals.
Free radicals are damaged molecules-molecules that are missing electronics
Free radicals are regarded as the primary force of destruction in nearly all-living things.
Free radicals take electrons from other non-damaged molecules. By doing so, the free molecules damage the cell.
As cell damage continues, it contributes to certain diseases and aging.
Free radicals can cause cancer, diabetes, cataracts, cardiovascular disease and wrinkles.
THE BENEFITS OF ANTIOXIDANTS:
Slowing Down Oxidation
Antioxidants are good at slowing down the oxidation process.
When oxidation occurs in food, fatty acids undergo chemical changes
Fatty acids are also found in the blood, which can undergo similar chemical changes, as does food.
Mental Decline Resulting From Aging
A study published by the Journal of Neuroscience showed that rats fed antioxidant-rich strawberries and spinach had better memories and slower decline of nerve cells functions than rats fed a standard diet.
Most of us knows that we need to consume more fruits and vegetables than meats. Fruits and vegetables plays an important role in protecting against and possibly reversing the cognitive declines seen from aging.
Free radical destruction is said to be a key factor to a decline in memory and motor performance seen in aging.
The brain is especially vulnerable because it is relatively deficient in antioxidants to begin with.
WHICH ANTIOXIDANTS ARE BEST THEN?
Two general types of antioxidants work together to protect the cells and tissues of our bodies. One type protects the aqueous (watery) portion of the tissues and the other the hydrophobic, or lipid (fatty) component. The aqueous environment is protected by vitamin C, and at least two additional antioxidants produced by tissues, glutathione and thioredoxin. Cell membranes are protected by the lipid-soluble antioxidants, including vitamin E, and the ubiquinols (CoQ10). Another antioxidant, alpha lipoic acid, is unique in that it can enter and protect both lipid and water environments.
When vitamins C and E react with and neutralize a free radical, the oxidized or spent vitamins are converted back to the reduced or recharged, active form. Vitamin C can donate electrons to oxidized vitamin E and convert the E back to its active state, leaving vitamin C oxidized. Vitamin C, in turn, can be recharged after reacting with glutathione or the more potent antioxidant, alpha lipoic acid.
The most versatile antioxidant in the cell is alpha lipoic acid. It is one of the more potent antioxidants, owing to its property of being the most easily oxidized. Alpha lipoic acid is the foundation of an antioxidant network involved in the conversion of the spent or oxidized forms of four different cellular antioxidants back to their active protective forms. The obvious questions, then, are how lipoic acid is regenerated and whether this process ever ends.
The answer lies in the unique property of lipoic acid, its solubility in both water and lipid. Lipoic acid can be converted from its oxidized state to its reduced state with the aid of a mitochondrial enzyme (the organelle within the cell where energy is produced). Unlike vitamins C and E, the cell has machinery specifically designed for the regeneration of reduced lipoic acid. Therefore, lipoic acid can itself react with and neutralize free radicals in addition to recycling vitamins C and E (as well as CoQ10, glutathione and thioredoxin). This is critical, since each antioxidant has a unique function. The conclusion, then, is that all of these antioxidants are required for optimal cellular health.
FOODS HIGH IN ANTIOXIDANTS:
Beta-carotene — Found in dark green, dark yellow and orange vegetables and fruits.
Selenium — Found in meats, fish, cereal, dairy products, Brazil and some other nuts.
Vitamin C – Found in orange juice, kiwi, grapefruit, strawberries, watermelon, green peppers, cauliflower and broccoli.
Vitamin E – Can be found in mayonnaise, margarine, salad dressing, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews, crab, shrimp and fish.
RECOMMENDED DIETARY ALLOWANCE:
Make sure you get the RDA for vitamin C, E and beta-carotene. If you rarely eat dark-green or orange varieties of fruits and vegetables, take a supplement, which supplies 100% of the RDA vitamins and minerals.
Studies show that people, especially as they age, don’t get the RDA for vitamin E. Good food sources for vitamin E again are breakfast cereals that are fortified with 100% of the RDA for vitamins and minerals, shellfish, mustard or turnip greens, kale and collards.
Ito Nakamura is a Internet Health Enterprenuer specialising in marketing health supplements; health exercise equipments & beauty products. http://www.detoxprofessor.com