Maybe you’ve heard of it; seen it in ads for antioxidants. Oxidative stress is the most damaging cell killer in you and your pet’s body. An imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body, oxidative stress is responsible for inflammation, leading to everything from heart disease, arthritis, brain disease, kidney disease, IBS, cancer and more. If you could get oxidative stress under control in you and your pet’s bodies, energy would increase and conditions would start to resolve or get much better.
Is it possible to really get a handle on oxidative stress? There are a lot of products on the market that address it – Vitamin C is a big one.
What Is Oxidative Stress?
To create energy, our pets’ cells must access nutrients – like stored fat and glucose – and convert it into ATP, the useable energy in their mitochondria. This complex chemical process can cause a bit of stress. This stress is referred to as oxidative stress because as a side effect of generating ATP, the mitochondria also produces harmful, toxic compounds called reactive oxygen species (ROS), or free radicals.
Reactive oxygen species are a type of unstable molecule that contains oxygen and that easily reacts with other molecules in a cell. A build up of reactive oxygen species in cells may cause damage to DNA, RNA, and proteins, and may cause cell death.
So, when the number of free radicals in the body overwhelms the body’s ability to detoxify them, we have a build up of oxidative stress. Over time, that imbalance can lead to disease and is very much a part of aging, as well. Those of us with senior pets, especially with issues, will find this important for you to know, too.
What Causes Oxidative Stress
So many things can contribute to oxidative stress. It is normally created as by-products of oxygen metabolism. But, environmental stressors like UV rays from the sun, ionizing radiations from things like microwaves from an oven, X rays and gamma rays from radioactive elements, pollutants, heavy metals, drugs, toxins in the air they breathe, the food they eat, the water they drink, rolling on unmarked, pesticide-treated grass and stress in their lives all play a part. Whew! You can see oxidative stress is created from a lot of things we and our pets are exposed to.
So, How Do We Manage (and Get Ahead of) Oxidative Stress?
There are ways to increase the antioxidants in our pets’ bodies to shore up where the body has depleted them fighting free radicals. Things like berries, other colorful fruits and vegetables, including parsley are all good antioxidants. But, can food alone handle the load of shoring up your pet’s antioxidants so that balance between free radicals and antioxidants is manageable?
That depends. Most of us live with our pets in an environment where they’re exposed to toxins on a regular basis. It takes a lot of knowledge and effort to feed so cleanly as to reduce toxins enough or to manage your water system so it’s truly pure. Then, you have the toxins on the grass, in the air and any emotional stress, whether it be separation anxiety, an illness or stress in the home.
So, the answer is our pets need help above and beyond food. I absolutely recommend feeding fresh, organic fruits and vegetables that are good antioxidants to our pets (be careful as to what is ok for dogs but not cats and vice versa) and a raw food diet where the live enzymes remain in the food. .
Supplements are another way to address helping the body detoxify free radicals.
Astaxanthin
A rich red color, astaxanthin is a very good antioxidant you can give your dog or cat as a supplement. Astaxanthin belongs to a group of compounds called carotenoids that comes from micro algae. It’s powerful antioxidant properties have been shown to be 65 times more powerful than vitamin C and 54 times more powerful than beta-carotene. It can reduce inflammation and strengthen the immune system. It can cross the blood brain barrier and was shown in experiments to accumulate in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex when taken as a dietary supplement.
Colostrum
Colostrum is a milky fluid released by mammals that have recently given birth before breast milk production begins. It’s an important source of nutrients that promotes growth and fights disease in infants. In supplement form, it can improve the immune response against certain viruses, support gut microflora and a healthy digestive system, improve bone and muscle function in older animals, and supportively treat periodontal disease in dogs and cats.
Green-Lipped Mussels
Green-lipped mussels are a powerful antioxidant. They are sourced in New Zealand, and are a natural source of glycosaminoglycans (GAGS). These are the main components of cartilage and synovial fluid found in the joints. They support joint mobility, cartilage maintenance, cardiovascular health and help maintain healthy skin too. Green-lipped mussels are also chock full of omega 3 fatty acids, which if you’ve taken my course, you know is a critical amino acid needed for good health in our pets. If you’re going to choose a green-lipped mussels oil product, make sure it’s gone through a cold-extraction process, not a heat process as heat kills nutrients.
Phtoplankton
This is a super healthy food that helps remove toxins from the body, including heavy metals. It contains SUD or Superoxide Dismutase, a great antioxidant. Trace minerals in phytoplanton like selenium has been shown to prevent cancer tumors; magnesium supports heart, joint and neurological health and iodine supports a healthy thyroid, among many other things. Iodine is very critical in the body. The importance of trace minerals will be the topic of another post.
There are other supplements we can give our pets to destroy free radicals.
However, there is one I am looking into that seems to be the best; 172 times better than Vitamin C at removing oxidative stress and then reversing conditions, disease and possibly even aging. I know; sounds crazy but stay tuned for more info on this.
Are Free Radicals All Bad for Us & Our Pets?
We’ve been taught to believe that ALL free radicals are bad. However, when maintained at low or moderate concentrations, or when the body can easily dispose of the incoming free radicals, they can play several beneficial roles for us and our pets.
For example, they are needed to manufacture and integrate some cellular structures and to be used by your pet’s defense system to fight pathogens. In fact, phagocytes, or cells that engulf and absorb bacteria, synthesize and store free radicals, in order to be able to release them when invading microbes have to be destroyed.
Free radicals are also involved in a number of cellular signaling pathways or messengers from cell to cell. The free radical nitric oxide (NO) is an important cell-to-cell messenger required for a proper blood flow and normal neural activity. NO is also involved in eliminating intracellular pathogens and tumor cells.
Summary
Oxidative stress overload is unhealthy, is a precursor to disease and a factor in aging in our pets and ourselves. It is created by everything from the process of our pet’s body metabolizing oxygen to the toxins they come into contact with on a daily basis. Their body does a pretty good job of trying to stay ahead of oxidative stress, but in today’s world, it needs help. Introducing foods and supplements into your pet’s body that are powerful antioxidants can help tip the scales back into balance.
Oxidative stress, in small to moderate amounts, does play an important role in protecting our pets from pathogens and in acting as signaling messengers between cells for some important functions.
The key is to manage it, so it doesn’t get out of hand and start destroying cells in their body.
If you’re wondering what of the many suggestions to choose to help your dog or kitty’s body fight the overload of oxidative stress, stay tuned right here. I’ll be sharing an important discovery I’ve made about a very powerful antioxidant, one that can eat up oxidative stress in you and your pet’s bodies 172 times better, more effectively and efficiently, than even Vitamin C, and then start reversing conditions, illness, maybe even aging.
To their health!
Jody 
