Copyright 2006 Simon Evans There is a war raging within our bodies every day. One the one side are environmental toxins that we breathe, drink and eat and on the other side are our bodies defense mechanisms that fight to keep us healthy. This is not new. There are ?natural toxins? all over our environment. Things like disease causing germs, radon gas and other natural contaminants that get into our food, water and the air we breathe. This is no reason to get alarmed. It has been going on for thousands of years.
However, there is substantial evidence that environmental toxins have dramatically increased over the past century, providing an increased threat. Our bodies defense systems just don?t adapt at the same rate. It is also problematic that the foods we eat have declined in nutritional quality. This puts us and our kids at greater risk since our bodies require this nutrition for ammunition against the environmental threats.
Casualty Report
When we think about things like hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and adult - onset diabetes (type II diabetes), we don?t typically think of these as childhood illnesses. However, children are diagnosed with chronic illness more and more all the time. Some would argue that this is simply due to an improvement in early diagnosis techniques. While this is certainly a factor, it is undeniable that the rate of many chronic diseases is increasing in children and adults alike.
A large national study called the PDAY study (predeterminants of atherosclerosis in youth) actually showed that 1 in 5 high school age kids today, already have the beginning stages of atherosclerosis and the majority of youth have fatty streaks in their arteries. They may not feel them yet, but they are there, looming over their future. Another study predicts that 1 out of 3 kids born after the year 2000 will develop diabetes due to current nutritional trends in the United States. This is an alarming trend for parents that don?t want to see their kids get sick; and an alarming trend for a nation that can?t handle the increasing burden of ill health in its citizens. We can do something to change this.
We must reverse these trends. Kids are not immune to chronic disease caused by poor lifestyle choices. I hear all the time ?they?re just kids, they can handle it?. This is absolutely false. Lack of quality nutrition in our kids is allowing the slow accumulation of damage to mount up in their veins and organs until one day it hits a point where they are diagnosed with disease.
Chronic illnesses that will catch up to them in adulthood are not the only problems. There are many immediate threats as well. Poor nutrition is associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), asthma, eczema and behavioral problems. This is not to say that poor nutrition is the sole cause of all of these disorders but it can definitely contribute. In many cases, improved diet and quality nutritional supplementation can reverse or at least improve several childhood disorders and can prevent chronic illness in adulthood.
Oxidative Stress Threatens Your Children?s Future
One of the major on-going battles is to keep damage from oxidative stress at a minimum. Many experts now believe that damage due to oxidative stress underlies the cause of several chronic degenerative diseases. There are certainly other factors at work, like genetics, but oxidative stress appears to be a significant player.
What is oxidative stress? It?s a simple concept really. Oxygen is a double-edged sword. We absolutely need it to survive but it?s also what ends up killing us in the end. Without it, we cannot produce the high-energy demands of our physiology. But the highly reactive properties of oxygen that make it so useful also make it very dangerous.
We mostly use oxygen in a reaction to convert foods we eat into a useful energy molecule, called ATP, which is the primary fuel that our body uses. However, the process of using oxygen to make ATP actually release very damaging molecules called free radicals. These little suckers can actually rip through your cells and create tons of havoc, damaging all kinds of things including your DNA. This process is called ?oxidative stress? and if left unchecked can lead to all kinds of disease like cancer, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer?s dementia, Parkinson?s disease and lots more.
The damage caused by oxidative stress slowly accumulates until it is bad enough to cause disease. It really just depends on where the greatest damage happens that determines the type of disease. For example, oxidative damage in the eye can lead to macular degeneration; in the joints to arthritis; in the arteries to atherosclerosis. That is where genetics comes in. Oxidative stress will be more likely to get a foothold wherever you are genetically weakest. But the underlying molecular mechanisms of these varied disease can have a similar root cause ? too much oxidative stress.
Anti-Oxidants to Your Children?s Rescue
Luckily, our bodies have ways to deal with oxidative stress. We have genes that have the specific job of ?capturing? these free radicals, before they wreak too much havoc, and minimize the damage. This defense mechanism is sometimes called our anti-oxidant system.
Many vitamins and plant-derived nutrients, like vitamin C and vitamin E also act as ?anti-oxidants? and help our bodies natural anti-oxidant systems keep free radicals under control. This is why it is so incredibly important to get enough of these nutrients into our bodies because without them damage from oxidative stress accumulates over time until it causes major health problems. The body?s own systems are not sufficient. We must arm them with anti-oxidant molecules from our diet and supplements to optimize our defenses.
It?s all about risk. Every time you allow your kids to eat poorly you allow a little damage and every time you encourage your kids to eat well you add a little protection to deal with or reverse the damage. If you continually tip the scales in favor of the damage, your kids will have a high probability of health problems.
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Dr. Simon Evans is a neuroscientist studying the interaction between nutrition, exercise and stress. He also also a passionate youth sports coach and is concerned about current trends in children's health. Visit Dr. Evans blog at http://www.raisingsuccessfulchildren.com/feedingdreams to read previous articles and contribute your feedback.
