Why you need antioxidants in your diet? Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) can boost body’s antioxidant defense by reducing cellular damage.
For many years now, researchers have discovered that Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) is the body’s most powerful natural antioxidant enzyme that plays a critical role in reducing the oxidative damage and inflammation.
Until recently, any attempts to stimulate SOD have been disappointing and challenging, since SOD protein molecule is easily deactivated by harsh acids and enzymes produced by digestive tract. However, the researchers have apparently overcome this challenge by creating bioavailable forms of SOD using natural plant extracts and partnering it with a protective protein driven from wheat and other plants (so it could be delivered intact to the bloodstream and intestine) .
According to lef.org, “SOD is a large molecule that’s not easily absorbed by the body when it’s orally consumed. However, latest discoveries have enabled scientists to bond SOD (extracted from a type of cantaloupe melon that naturally produces high levels of the enzyme) to a biopolymer extracted from ordinary wheat. Studies have shown that the wheat component, known as gliadin, protects the fragile SOD molecule from the ravages of stomach acid and intestinal enzymes, thus allowing the molecule to enter the bloodstream intact”.
According to researchers, SOD combined with gliadin can effectively enhance the body’s defense system, since these two powerful antioxidants work together to detoxify toxins and get rid of harmful substances and free radicals.
Oxygen is your body’s best friend, but it’s also your body’s worst enemy:
Although oxygen is essential to life, it also poses a threat to our biological system. More damaging to body cells than toxins or environmental pollutions are internally generated pro-oxidants.
SOD is a naturally occurring enzyme that protects the body against oxidative damage, but studies have shown that as we get older, like any other protective compounds that naturally occur in the body, SOD decreases and as a result it leaves our bodies more venerable to aging and diseases.
At the same time, our body creates energy by burning nutrients with oxygen, but in the process of generating energy, certain inevitable oxygen molecules known as free radicals are created. These free radicals are highly reactive and unstable oxygen molecules that play a main role in cell signaling. As we age, the number of free radicals increases and they could damage and ruin any other molecules that they come in contact with (like DNA, proteins, and lipids).
In fact, many chronic and inflammatory diseases including cancer, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, atherosclerosis, and diabetes are mainly triggered by free radical damage to DNA at cellular level. For example, collagen is a major structural protein in the skin that plays a major role in skin elasticity, youth and providing the structural scaffolding for cells, tissues, and organs. As we get older, these highly reactive oxygen species start to gradually damage collagen and the result would be the signs of aging such as sagging or wrinkling.
Studies have shown that effective protection against oxidative damage requires increased levels in the antioxidant SOD:
-According to Danish studies, SOD partners with collagen and protect the skin from oxidative damage. Another study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry confirms that SOD protects collagen from oxidative stress and fragmentation.
- According to several French studies on both humans and laboratory animals, SOD/gliadin—but not SOD alone—cause a significant increase in circulating antioxidant enzyme activities and the increase in SOD is associated with an increased resistance of red blood cells to oxidative stress-induced rupture.
- Another French study shows that SOD extracted from melon have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. According to lef.org, “researchers discovered that the antioxidant properties attributed to the melon extract were indeed due to active SOD. The SOD prompted immune cells (macrophages) to release the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 rather than inflammatory tumor necrosis factor, which the cells may release under conditions of oxidative stress”.
- Researchers have also discovered that combination of SOD/gliadin could have anti-cancerous properties. In a Japanese study published in the British Journal of Cancer, the researchers discovered that about 80% of gliadin-only subjects developed tumors, but only about half as many animals in the SOD/gliadin group did so. The researchers also learnt that tumor cells from the controlled group that did not receive SOD/gliadin were metastasized (readily spread) and on contrast, the tumor cells from animals on SOD/gliadin had decreased metastatic ability.
- In another study, the researchers noticed that oral antioxidants such as vitamin E or N-acetylcysteine failed to reduce oxidative damage and the researchers concluded that the primary antioxidant SOD is the main effective factor that protects cells against oxidative damage.
SOD Antioxidant rich-melon extract could reduce stress and when combined with wheat component (known as gliadin), it could have strong anti-aging properties:
The melon extract is a rich source of super-antioxidant called SOD. As mentioned above, the researchers have discovered that SOD has strong anti-aging properties, but it’s deactivated by harsh acids and enzymes, so it should be partnered with a wheat component, known as gliadin. In addition, French researchers have discovered that consuming antioxidant SOD on a daily basis could reduce stress and fatigue.
Don’t be fooled by skin lotions and beauty products such as Cindy Crawford’s signature cream called ‘Meaningful Beauty’ that claim to have melon extract as the main ingredient for its super-antioxidant SOD:
Most of these magical creams and skin lotions are filled with toxic ingredients and heavy metals that damage your skin and cause a wide range of diseases such as allergies, organ toxicity and breast cancer. Click here to find more about the toxic ingredients in ‘Meaningful Beauty’ products and how they are anything, but ‘Meaningful’ and ‘Beautiful’: http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/toxic-ingredients-in-anti-aging-cream-Meaningful-Beauty-fountain-of-youth.php
Skin lotions like Meaningful Beauty products might have melon extract as an antioxidants, but they have tons of other harsh chemicals such as Mineral Oil (hidden under 40 different names), Propylparaben , Phenoxyethanol , Methylparaben, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, PEG-6 Stearate, PEG-32 Stearate, PEG-75 Stearate, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil and Octinoxate also known as octyl-methoxycinnamate.
Sources:
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2006/jun2006_report_sod_01.htm
