WHAT IS FREE RADICAL DAMAGE?

Free radicals are atoms or molecules with an unpaired electron in its outermost shell and can be formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules (called oxidization). Because these atoms or molecules want to be stable by pairing that electron, free radicals attack the nearest stable molecule, "stealing" its electron. When the "attacked" molecule loses its electron, it becomes a free radical itself, beginning a chain reaction. Once the process is started, it can cascade, resulting in the destruction of skin cells and important skin molecules.

Pollution, UV rays, carbon monoxide and synthetic chemicals all contribute free radicals to our skin. Free radical damage also accumulates with age.

What does Free Radical Damage do?

Free radicals will attack a variety of molecules including the DNA, lipids and proteins in our skin. This damages the structure of cell membranes, making cells function poorly or even die off. If, for example, a free radical steals an electron from one of the proteins that is contained in a strand of collagen, it causes a change in the chemical structure of the collagen at that point and causes a break in the collagen strand. This damages the collagen and it becomes dysfunctional and loses its elastic quality. Free radical damage is what causes the breakdown of elasticity and volume in the skin as we age, resulting in sagging skin, wrinkling and loss of volume.

How Can You Stop Free Radical Damage?

Antioxidants are chemicals that are able to donate an electron to a free radical, stabilizing the free radical and stopping the chain of chemical reactions and potential damage. Antioxidants are able to donate the missing electron to a free radical without the antioxidant becoming a free radical itself. In this manner, antioxidants prevent free radical damage and slow the aging process.

Chronic Inflammation

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO SKIN AGING

Free radical damage and chronic inflammation are the leading causes of skin aging.

Inflammation is an essential part of the body's healing process and occurs at the cellular level when the immune system tries to fight off disease-causing germs and repair injured tissue.

When the fight is over, the inflammation-triggering substances are supposed to retreat, but in many cases they don't. This chronic inflammation has been implicated in accelerating fine lines, wrinkles and enlarged pores, as well as puffiness, sagging, blotchiness or reddening of the skin.

Many factors can contribute to chronic inflammation such as environmental pollutants, poor diet and synthetic chemicals in skin care products. It is important to counteract the effects of these factors with naturally occurring anti inflammatories both internally and externally.

Anti inflammatory ingredients in skincare can reduce the signs of skin aging as well as protect against skin disease such as cancer.

Why Looking for the Organic Logo is Critical

NOT ALL ORGANIC PRODUCTS ARE CREATED EQUALLY

Cosmetic Companies' Natural And Organic Claims Can Be Misleading To Consumers

Over the past few years, the demand for organic products and eco-friendly services has been rapidly growing. As a result consumers are now embracing more and more organic made products—including beauty and skin care essentials.

With the increased popularity of these types of products, it is inevitable that retailers and manufacturers may capitalize on the trend—by jumping on the organic bandwagon. These “me too” actions are not necessarily a bad thing if the products or services are genuinely organic/eco-friendly products. However, many companies have capitalized on the “green” movement by offering products and services which are not necessarily 100% organic or environmentally friendly.

The term "green washing" has been coined to describe these actions – by companies who portray a green-friendly façade but who don’t necessarily have environmentally sound practices or who simply over-state the degree to which their products are organic. As a result, consumers are becoming jaded and expressing a growing concern over their ability to differentiate products which are 100% organic versus those that simply lay claim to being organic.

Some of the most obvious cases of “Green Washing” are in the multi-million dollar organic beauty and skin care industry. Currently, any skin care company can claim a high percentage of organic or natural content, but in order to verify that claim an outside party would need to determine the source of ingredients to ensure that they are really organic, and then furthermore, determine how they are being processed in the laboratory. This is called third-party organic certification.

In an attempt to re-establish consumer trust companies that are truly committed to the organic movement are choosing to have their products certified by an objective third party. Agencies that provide this service, such as the USDA or the even stricter Nature et Progrès, help differentiate companies who produce genuine organic products from the many “organic-ish” product manufacturers by diligently monitoring the products that they certify and providing them with a logo for their labels.

Third-party certified organic products must pass stringent quality-testing and standards to ensure that no synthetic chemicals are used at any stage of the production chain. No chemically processed ingredients are permitted to be used in the products, and all certified products must pass environmental standard and random quality inspections to ensure that they continue to meet the guidelines set by the certifier.

The only way to guarantee that what a cosmetic company is claiming on the label or in their marketing is actually true, is if that company is third-party certified organic by a reputable certifier such as Nature et Progrès or the USDA.

Many consumers are surprised to discover that the cosmetic industry is essentially unregulated in North America. In Canada, when a new skin care product is brought to the market, manufacturers are not required to send that product to Health Canada for testing. The only thing that Health Canada requires is a written list of ingredients. In the US the situation is even worse, as the FDA does even not require notification of a new cosmetic product on the market, much less an ingredient list or the product itself for testing.

This comes as a shock to many consumers, as there is a widely held belief that in Canada and the US the governments are testing new products, not only to ensure that they are safe, but also to confirm that what is stated in the list of ingredients matches what is actually in the bottle.

Related Links

http://www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare/index.cfm

http://www.entreprisescanada.ca/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1081944204554&lang=en&pagename=CBSC_ON%2Fdisplay&c=Regs

http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/

VoluntaryCosmeticsRegistrationProgramVCRP/default.htm

Sun Exposure Can Protect You From Cancer

THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF SUNSCREEN

What You Need To Know To Protect Yourself

While it is true that too much sun may be harmful and cause premature skin aging, it has become increasingly apparent that the use of sunscreens to avoid sun damage may be doing more harm than good. Over the past decade reports on the dangers of sun exposure and warnings from doctors to keep out of the sun and wear sun screen at all times have increased dramatically. Most individuals, especially in developed nations, have responded by slathering sunscreens on themselves and their children. The result is now a three-fold increase in skin cancers, a significant deficiency in the general population of vitamin D and other various health problems related to the use of synthetic sunscreens.

Ingredients in sunscreens have been shown to cause free radical damage in the skin and body, behave as estrogen mimickers and cause cancer. To further compound this problem, sunscreens restrict the body’s ability to produce Vitamin D, which has recently been understood to be a crucial vitamin in preventing the development of cancers (including skin cancer) and other diseases such as osteoporosis and multiple sclerosis.

In fact, new research has recently indicated that getting appropriate sun exposure can cut your risk of cancer by 60 percent.

For those of us who are also concerned about the aging affects of the sun on our skin, it turns out that most of the synthetic ingredients found in sunscreens also cause free-radical damage and premature skin aging. So what can you do to protect your skin?

One of the most importants things that you can do to protect yourself from and correct the effects of free radical damage is to eat an antioxidant rich diet. However, since 97 to 98 % of the antioxidants that we eat are utilized by the body before they reach the skin, it is important to topically apply antioxidants to the skin to combat and repair free radical damage. Antioxidants applied to the skin in the form of natural plant extracts and oils are one of the best ways to slow the skin’s aging process.

Doing simple things such as wearing a hat in the sun and avoiding too much sun exposure during peak UV radiation hours from 10 am to 1 or 2 pm, eating a diet rich in antioxidants and applying synthetic-free antioxidants to your skin are all great ways of both maintaining and impoving your skin and body health without risking further health and free radical damage through the use of synthetic sunscreens.

Related Links

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/08/13/New-Model-for-Cancer--Dynamite.aspx

http://www.ewg.org/analysis/toxicsunscreen

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090522081212.htm