Breathe Easy, Take Antioxidants :: Environmental and Health Concerns

> Environmental and Health Concerns > Air Pollution

Breathe Easy, Take Antioxidants

Antioxidant supplements may improve lung damage caused by ozone, reports James M. Samet, PhD of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Lab in North Carolina. Ozone gas is a common air pollutant found in smog that damages cells, leading to inflammation and decreased lung function. Samet’s study placed 31 healthy nonsmoking adults on a vitamin C-restricted diet for three weeks, then gave half the group a placebo and the other half daily doses of vitamins C and E and a carotenoid-rich vegetable drink. After exposure to ozone for two hours, the group taking antioxidants showed 24 per cent and 30 per cent improvement in two lung function tests, compared with the placebo group.

Air pollution is a major health concern among Canadians, says the Canadian Lung Association lung.ca. One in five Canadians has some form of respiratory problem and lung disease is now the third-leading cause of death in Canada and on the rise.

Source: alive #234, April 2002

Cancer
Cancer develops when cells in the body function abnormally and multiply uncontrollably--a process which eventually leads to tumor growth. A healthy body routinely detects and eliminates abnormal cells.

The Real Story of Alberta Oil Industry Pollution
My parents, Robert and Ethel Kerns, bought a farm in 1946 that is located outside a little town called Wimborne in Central Alberta. About 1967, Mom started raising purebred Arabian horses. Our first devastating experience with the gas/oil industry was the sulphur plant about five kilometres east of the farm.

Age Arresters
Antioxidant is the magic word this century. Antioxidants trap molecules known as free radical.

Chemtrails Secret Confirmed
It started in the winter of 1998. Sky-obscuring "chemtrails" have been observed by thousands of eyewitnesses--including pilots, police officers and former military personnel--over Canada, the USA, Britain, Australia and allied European nations.

Anti-Cancer Antioxidants
Imagine the cells in your body turning brown just like an apple does when exposed to the oxygen in the air.

Herbs for Longevity
We're all aging all the time. As we grow older, our metabolism--the body's chemical and physical changes from producing energy from food and oxygen in cells--becomes less efficient.

Do You Suffer From Heart Disease?
Cardiovascular disease is the number-one preventable cause of death in Canada today. A healthy diet of whole natural foods, regular exercise and good quality sleep can go a long way to reduce the stresses on our heart, arguably the body's most important organ.

Air Apparent
A new generation of children with asthma calls for natural treatments. It is tragically common these days to see children-and adults-puffing onsmall blue puffers or wheezing for breath during exercise. Natural health supplements and herbs are simple nutritional additions to the diet that can help.

Gut Feelings
A bacterium called Helicobacter pylori is the chief culprit in gastritis, ulcers and stomach cancer. Antioxidant nutrients can protect you.

The New Antioxidants: Great Protectors

Before discussing the types of antioxidants, let me first give you an overview of what antioxidants are and how they help maintain good health.

Antioxidant Nutrition
Its vital role in reducing the risks of age-related diseases Our antioxidant needs become ever greater as we ag.

To Catch a Thief
Oxygen - we can't live without it as the body needs a constant supply to produce cellular energ.

Feed Your Brain

"Eat your vegetables, she commanded her 10-year-old son.

Fitness For Every Age
Perhaps the most important factor in a fitness program as we age is having enough energy to maintain an active lifestyle. Due to the wear and tear of a lifetime of not taking care of ourselves, however, we may experience an "energy crisis..

Great Greens for Health, Heart, and Head
Eating an abundance of fruit and vegetables may reduce cancer incidence by up to 50 percen.

Your Detox-Product Shopping List
From the car fumes we breathe to the pesticide residues on our foods, toxic contaminants are, sadly, a daily reality. Your local health food store is your best source of the wide range of natural foods, herbs, and supplements needed to support natural detoxification.

Striking out Stroke
You could call it a "brain attack. Stroke - the fourth leading cause of death in Canada - happens when the brain's oxygen supply is cut off, destroying vital nerve cells. Fifty thousand Canadians suffer from stroke each year, and about 16,000 of them die..

Bone Health
Our bones are alive and are constantly being renovated: old bone is dismantled, removed, and replaced with new bone. We continue to build bone mass until our early thirties and then our bodies simply work to retain existing bone.

Antioxidants: Our Cancer Warriors

Chemical Skywriting Controversy in Canada

Lead

Free Radicals

The Universal Antioxidant-ALA
Have you heard the buzz about alpha lipoic acid (ALA)? Once classified as a mere vitamin, this vitamin-like compound is more like a "universal antioxidant. More versatile than antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, it actually enhances the effectiveness of these and other antioxidants.

Loving Lycopene
Lycopene is a carotenoid can lower the risk of some of the most deadly cancers, including breast and prostate cancers. Lycopene can also protect your heart and eyes and can even help preserve your memory. All you need to do is consume just one serving a day. Here's how lycopene works.

Allicin
Researchers are exploring the medicinal possibilities of garlic, especially its main constituent, allicin. Research suggests that garlic may have health benefits such as lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, protecting the heart and arteries, boosting immunity, increasing anti-allergy effects, and helping in cancer prevention and therapy.

Chevron Flunks At Safety
Last year, Chevron's refinery in Vancouver, BC had six serious incidents ranging from an explosion which injured at least two workers, to the release of potentially toxic gases into the atmospher.

Fuel-Cell Future Less Grey
It's smog, not fog surrounding six of the world's most air polluted cities: Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Cairo, New Delhi, Shanghai and Beijing. But that could change with the introduction of 46 fuel-cell powered buses that would provide urban transportation and clean the air by cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions.

Organic Diet Cuts Pesticides in Kids

Agricultural Chemical Sales Drop

Latest Pollution Stats

Herbs and spices: new weapons against cancer
The next time you're preparing dinner, try using a variety of spices to flavour the meal-they just might save your life.A growing body of research indicates that many spices can help prevent cancer.

Ski Wax Toxicity

Defying Power

Stand Up for Clean Air

Poor Man's Juice Rich in Antioxidants

Chocolate Banishes the Winter Blues

Hybrid Cars
You've likely heard about the latest hybrid vehicles making their way onto dealer lots. These green machines are a popular option for environmentally conscious drivers wanting to do their part to lower vehicular emissions, and you're going to be hearing more about them.

Antioxidants
An antioxidant is a molecule that helps stop oxidative stress by scavenging free radicals-those molecules in the body that are unstable due to a missing electron. The free radical will try to stabilize itself by stealing an electron from one of the body's healthy cells, a process called oxidation.

Diesel Danger
Dutch researchers may have found a chemical link between diesel fumes and altered brain activity.

Healthy Aging
Eat less, exercise more, get enough sleep, and avoid stress. Even after all this advice, our arsenal against aging isn't necessarily complete without longevity-boosting nutritional supplements.

Petro Problems in Cowboy Country
When it comes to mega-profits from mega-oil, the province of Alberta was not careful enough about what it wished for. What it has been granted, along with the riches, is a nightmarish mess of pollution that it has not begun to address.

Dry Cleaning Resolution
Have you made any eco-conscious New Year's resolutions? In 2009 why not resolve to choose a green dry cleaner? While Environment Canada has regulated the phasing out of wasteful, old-generation washing machines and the reduction of toxic dry cleaning emissions, the department has not yet assessed the success of its regulations.