Endogenous Vs Exogenous Antioxidant

Antioxidant and Free Radicals

Free radicals - are highly reactive, unstable molecules that have lost one electron and are aggressively looking for a replacement. Free radicals are formed in the body, and its production is increased when we are exposed to such things as tobacco smoke, alcohol, insecticides, radiation and even to sunlight. Other causes are a high-fat diet, eating fried foods, or strenuous exercise. It is the free radical production from these sources that we need to be most concerned about. In a simple explanation, FREE RADICALS are responsible to cell damage.

Exogenous Antioxidant - antioxidant that we obtain from our diet and supplements. Vitamin C and Vitamin E are the most popular exogenous antioxidant that floods the market.

Endogenous Antioxidant - antioxidant produced by our body. More powerful free radical fighter than those you can get from your diet. The five important endogenous antioxidants are Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), Glutathione, Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA), Catalase and Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10).

Our body produces more SOD, Catalase and Glutathione when certain free radicals are present. It is our body's Frontline defense (First Line of Defense).

Some Important Roles of Endogenous Antioxidant:

• SOD can convert the most reactive or most dangerous free radicals into hydrogen peroxide, which catalase and Glutathione can then turn into oxygen and water, neutralizing them.
• ALA, Glutathione and CoQ10 has properties that can regenerate and recycle some exogenous antioxidants. **Example - Vitamin C (Ascorbate) donates an electron to a free radical to neutralize it, making it dehydroascorbate which has a half-life in the body of only a few minutes. If the dehydroascorbate is not rereduced (given back its lost electrons) back to ascorbate, it is irreversibly lost making it a weak free radical. Endogenous antioxidants can regenerate this dyhydroascorbate, turning it back to ascorbate form so it can combat another free radical again.

What Makes Glutathione Stand Out from other Endogenous Antioxidant?

Glutathione is present in each and every cell of our body, found in high concentrations in liver cells. It is the cell’s primary antioxidant against free radicals produced by toxic chemicals and viruses. Glutathione also plays an essential role in the liver’s detoxification process (Phase II system). 

Glutathione has the ability to repair DNA damage caused by free radicals at the cellular level, it plays a role in boosting the immune system and in slowing down the natural ageing process.... Glutathione indeed is the Most Important and Most Powerful Antioxidant inside our body. 

How Powerful is Glutathione?

Antioxidant donates electron to free radicals to neutralize it. Let's make an example how many free radicals some popular antioxidants can neutralize:

• Vitamin E - a molecule of vit.E has 3 electrons to share, meaning it can neutralize 3 free radicals at a time.
• Vitamin C - has 2 to 5 electrons to share, means it can neutralize 2 to 5 free radicals at a time.
• Glutathione - has 1 million electrons to share, it can neutralize 1million free radicals at a time as well as give back the lost electrons of exogenous antioxidants like vitamin c and vitamin e making them functional again.

It is estimated that every one of the cells in our body receives 10,000 hits a day from free radicals, assuming we have 50 to 75 trillion cells, imagine the total hits from free radicals we encounter per day! If we will rely from exogenous antioxidants to neutralize that many free radicals, we would have to consume approximate amount of 375 oranges or 87 glasses of red wine or 120 vitamin C capsule! Glutathione being our body's frontline defense, do most of the work in neutralizing these free radicals.

Important Facts:

• Endogenous and Exogenous Antioxidants, revive and spare one another from destruction. So those exogenous antioxidants coming from our diet and supplements are also important. 
• Taking Vitamin C and Vitamin E and other exogenous antioxidant supplement is also needed if we need to give our body a boost by helping and aiding glutathione.
• It is evident that we need to rely on replenishing glutathione at the cellular level to be healthier and live longer.
• When we are Younger, our body is capable of producing enough endogenous antioxidants to combat free radicals on their own. Capability decreases as we age, making us vulnerable to sickness.

For decades, the main problem encountered with glutathione sold as a supplement is that only very small amounts can be absorbed into the blood stream because of its large molecule size aside from our body breaks them down in the process of digestion.