Summary: Oxidative stress is a root cause of all diseases and health problems throughout the body. It is the balance between pro-oxidants and antioxidants. To better understand this process see our pages on Oxidant, Antioxidants  , KappaB and disease.   The pro attribute of oxidation (which may be KappaB) creates or develops an oxidant (free radical) that is harmful to the body and the anti means it kills or removes the harmful oxidant. Thus oxidative stress is caused when the pro's are greater than the anti's. All diseases are claimed to be the result of oxidation (KappaB) and oxygen.

Note: comments in [these colored brackets] and bold text is by TNYMED to help interpret the following article with difficult medical language. TNYMED is a medical researcher who has spent thousands of hours collecting research. He has graciously provided some of his collections for our use of which we are very grateful.

Public Med PMID: 8660387 The Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, "Albany Medical College, NY 12208, USA.  Biochem Soc Symp. 1995;61:1-31 "The paradox of aerobic life, or the 'Oxygen Paradox', is that higher eukaryotic aerobic [oxygen breathing] organisms (this includes humans] cannot exist without oxygen, yet oxygen is inherently dangerous to their [our] existence [the same process that gives us life, damages body tissues]. This 'dark side' of oxygen relates directly to the fact that each oxygen atom has one unpaired electron in its outer valence shell, and molecular oxygen has two unpaired electrons. Thus atomic oxygen is a free radical and molecular oxygen is a [free] bi-radical. Concerted tetravalent reduction of oxygen by the mitochondrial electron-transport chain, to produce water, is considered to be a relatively safe process; however, the univalent reduction of oxygen generates reactive intermediates. The reductive environment of the cellular milieu provides ample opportunities for oxygen to undergo unscheduled univalent reduction. Thus the superoxide anion radical, hydrogen peroxide and the extremely reactive hydroxyl radical [three free radicals that do oxidative damage and drive Diabetes] are common products of life in an aerobic environment, and these agents appear to be responsible for oxygen toxicity [damage done to body tissues by the process of life]. To survive in such an unfriendly oxygen environment, living organisms generate--or garner from their surroundings--a variety of water- and lipid-soluble antioxidant compounds [everything before this is P#1] [Vit. A, E & C are just three of many antioxidants we get from food]. Additionally, a series of antioxidant enzymes, whose role is to intercept and inactivate reactive oxygen intermediates [oxygen free radicals], is synthesized by all known aerobic organisms(P#2) [the human body has a very complex system to protect us from damage]. Although extremely important, the antioxidant enzymes and compounds are not completely effective in preventing oxidative damage. To deal with the damage that does still occur, a series of damage removal/repair enzymes [from our immune system), for proteins, lipids and DNA, is synthesized(P#2] [our immune system makes inflammatory agents that remove damaged tissue & replaces it with new, the entire process must be carefully and tightly controlled, if not the immune system goes hyperactive and adds to the damage process] Finally, since oxidative [and other] stress levels may vary from time to time [injury, infection, smoke, toxins, over work, poor diet, etc produce more damaged tissue that needs to be removed & replaced] , organisms are able to adapt to such fluctuating stresses by inducing the [increased] synthesis of antioxidant enzymes and damage removal/repair enzymes(P#2) [the Immune/inflammatory system that removes/replaces damaged tissue must increase production dramatically to keep up with damage]. In a perfect world the story would end here; unfortunately, biology is seldom so precise. The reality appears to be that, despite the valiant antioxidant and repair mechanisms described above, oxidative damage remains an inescapable outcome of aerobic existence.[from here to bottom is all P#1] In recent years oxidative [and other] stress has been implicated in a wide variety of degenerative processes, diseases and syndromes] oxidative stress damage from oxygen radicals activates and drives the destructive process of Diabetes, a properly controlled immune system would stop the process. Unfortunately the Diabetic body is unable to give proper control and the immune/inflammatory system adds an uncontrolled inflammatory immune system attack to compound the process], including the following: mutagenesis, cell transformation and cancer; atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis, heart attacks, strokes and ischaemia/reperfusion injury; chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus [lupus is from a genetic defect allowing high levels of hydroxyl radicals, rampant production of defective autoantibodies and poor immune / inflammatory system control] and psoriatic arthritis(and diabetes); acute inflammatory problems, such as wound healing; [proper wound healing is from the properly controlled immune system removal/replacement of damaged tissue] photo-oxidative stresses to the eye, such as cataract; central-nervous system disorders, such as certain forms of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, certain glutathione peroxidase-linked adolescent seizures, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's dementia [all underlined diseases have oxidative damage and an overactive, uncontrolled immune system driving or at least adding to the disease process] and a wide variety of age-related disorders, perhaps even including factors underlying the aging process itself. Some of these oxidation-linked diseases or disorders can be exacerbated, perhaps even initiated, by numerous environmental pro-oxidants and/or pro-oxidant drugs and foods [anything that produces damage will stimulate a strong immune system inflammatory response and make it harder to control]. Alternatively, compounds found in certain foods may be able to significantly bolster biological resistance against oxidants. Currently, great interest centers on the possible protective value of a wide variety of plant-derived antioxidant compounds, particularly those from fruits and vegetables [anything that protects the body, lowers the demand on the immune system, making it easer to control]."(1)x

University of Valencia: "Oxidative stress may be defined as an imbalance between pro-oxidant and antioxidant agents, in favour of the former (Sies, 1986); this imbalance may be due to an excess of pro-oxidant agents, a deficiency of antioxidant agents or both factors simultaneously. The origin of oxidative stress is an alteration of the redox status in cells, leading to a cellular response to counteract the oxidising action (Sies, 1986). Pro-oxidant agents are all those that can directly or indirectly oxidise molecules. The most important pro-oxidant agents in biological systems are those derived from oxygen, more commonly known as reactive oxygen species." (2)x

Wikipedia "Oxidation reactions (pro-oxidants) can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves. As a result, antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols or polyphenols." (3) (4)x

Wikipedia: Pro-oxidants are chemicals that induce oxidative stress, either through creating reactive oxygen species or inhibiting antioxidant systems.[1] The oxidative stress produced by these chemicals can damage cells and tissues, for example an overdose of the analgesic paracetamol (acetaminophen) can cause fatal damage to the liver, partly through its production of reactive oxygen species.[2][3] Some substances can act as either antioxidants, or pro-oxidants, depending on the specific set of conditions.[4] Some of the conditions that are important include the concentration of the chemical and if oxygen or transition metals are present. While thermodynamically very favored, reduction of molecular oxygen or peroxide to superoxide or hydroxyl radical is fortunately spin forbidden. This greatly reduces the rates of these reactions, thus allowing aerobic life to exist. As a result, the reduction of oxygen typically involves either the initial formation of singlet oxygen, or spin-orbit coupling through a reduction of a transition-series metal such as manganese, iron, or copper. This reduced metal then transfers the single electron to molecular oxygen or peroxide.(5)

OXIS International "Many free radicals are the result of naturally occurring processes such as oxygen metabolism and inflammatory processes." (6)

The Weston Price Foundation "Oxidative Stress (OS) is not, in and of itself, a disease but a condition that can lead to or accelerate it. OS occurs when the available supply of the body's antioxidants is insufficient to handle and neutralize free radicals of different types. The result is massive cell damage that can result in cellular mutations, tissue breakdown and immune compromise."(7)

Nutritional Medicine Ray D. Strand M.D. "Most of us can simply look forward to suffering and dying from heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, macular degeneration, and the list goes on and on, unless we literally attack the underlying cause of all of these diseases—oxidative stress." (8)

Smoking causes Oxidative Stress "There are several likely ways that cigarette smoke does its damage. One is oxidative stress" (8)

AJP Lung Cell Molecular Physiology:  "Cigarette smoke extract induces oxidative stress and apoptosis in human lung fibroblasts" (9)

Wikipedia: "Pro-oxidants are chemicals that induce oxidative stress, either through creating reactive oxygen species or inhibiting antioxidant systems.[1] The oxidative stress produced by these chemicals can damage cells and tissues,..." (10)

Anilitical Research Lab: "Free or unbound copper, however, is quite toxic. Copper is a powerful oxidant, meaning it can inflame the tissues and cause oxidant damage." (11)  See our page on copper