The rubber meets the road at the cellular level. Cells make up organs, organs make up the body. How your body functions depends upon how the cells function and communicate with each other. We are bombarded by products that are designed to help the cells function better and make us feel better. But what do they do? How do they function? How do you know what to eat? What supplements to take?
First, let’s take a short journey into the cell. (You may skip to the next section if this is too boring.)
Meet Your Cellular Team
The cell membrane is composed of fats, the composition of which determines how well it functions. Receptors are in the cell membrane, along with channels to conduct nutrients and waste products in and out of the cell.
Inside the cell are manufacturing plants (ribosomes) and energy producing plants (mitochondria). These multiple “plants” are governed by a “Board of Directors” (DNA) and an “Executive staff” (RNA). The cells also have hundreds of fuel station attendants (kinases) that decide where the energy is used; where it is needed most.
The cells have a myriad of messengers that control and regulate all these activities within the plants (redox, cytokines, endocrine, hormones, transcription factors).
As you know, when we manufacture stuff, we make a mess. Our cells are no different. Our cells contain a “break-it-down, clean-it-up and recycle-it crew,” which consists of enzymes, antioxidants, and proteases.
Finally, we need a system to detect problems, protect the cells, and repair or replace damaged cells. This system uses “redox signaling” molecules to accomplish its miraculous work.
How They All Work Together
So, how do all these health products fit into this puzzle? There are at least 50 known essential nutrients. They are essential’ because the body does not make them. There are other nutrients in food that your body can make, but makes in insufficient quantities. Nutrient production may diminish with age or be low in your unique body, thus making the nutrients more essential’ for you.
And there are recently discovered (and possibly undiscovered) nutrients, which only underscore the importance of eating healthy food, as God designed it, as the most important step for health. Using supplements to supplement is a second step. This will not be a treatise on each vitamin and mineral and amino acid and phytonutrient, but rather an overview of general categories and why they are important.
Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamins and minerals act as co-factors or catalysts for reactions in the biochemical processes. Without these co-factors, the process takes too long to happen and the end-product could not be made for the cell to function. For instance, magnesium is a required co-factor for over 200 cellular reactions, more than any other vitamin or mineral. A deficiency interferes with all those cellular reactions.
Essentials Fatty Acids
Essential (means not made in the body) fatty acids, both omega-3 and omega-6, are critical for proper function of every cell membrane of our 30 to 75 trillion cells. They are also precursors for important signaling prostaglandins.
Antioxidants
Flavonoids, bioflavonoids, proanthocyanidins are potent antioxidants, although they may have other important properties.
Probiotics
Probiotics are the good bacteria found in the intestinal tract. These organisms keep the normal gastrointestinal inhabitants, Candida, under control.
Herbs
Herbs are not nutrients, because they are not normally present in the body. But they can be helpful for various health conditions. Herbs may have adverse side effects, although their safety profile is considerably better than medications, so it is important to know what and how much you are taking.
Hormones
Hormones carry on specific functions in the cell and their effectiveness in the body is based on their level in the body and the sensitivity of its corresponding receptor in the cell membrane. Bioidentical hormones act like your own body hormones, while patented chemically changed hormones have unwanted side effects.
Redox Signaling Molecules
Last but not least, redox signaling molecules are vital to the health of your body. Redox signaling molecules are made in the body but our ability to produce them diminishes as we age.
What do they do? They accomplish miraculous results!: Among them:
- improve antioxidant effect in the body by 500%,
- accelerate cellular healing,
- improve athletic performance and recovery,
- boost the cell’s communication systems, and
- improve cell receptor sensitivity.
The ability to stabilize these molecules in a bottle and take them on a daily basis, in my opinion, is the biggest breakthrough in health in the last 50 or more years.
Each of these substances is necessary for the proper and optimal functioning of your cells. More support in all of these areas is necessary as we age.
Take Control!
Recently we took our car into the shop because it was not shifting when we drove above 35 miles per hour. We thought we might have to have the transmission replaced. Fortunately, it was only about as expensive (it was the solenoid for you mechanics that are dying to know). But the bottom line is, we did what it took to have a working vehicle.
You only get one body! You can’t take it in for a new model when you get tired or are tired of the body you have.
Take control of your health today. Many of these products can be found in health food stores.
More information about redox signaling molecules can be found at www.keystohealing.teamasea.com.
For more information about my philosophies, go to www.stangardnermd.com. You can locate potent, safe supplements under the Healthy Products tab on that site. My office is located in Riverton, Utah (South Salt Lake City), (801) 302-5397.
