These days the expression ??the body gets rusty ?? is often used in Japanese TV commercials for tomato juice,for example,to make it easier to get the picture of an oxidized body and aging.
The function of active oxygen seems to be more commonly understood.
When metal rusts,it loses some of its original properties and becomes more fragile.A knife loses its edge if it is rusty.In fact,rusting occurs not only in metals such as iron,but also in the human body.Rusting is the same as oxidization.Just as an old nail is oxidized iron,the human body too can be oxidized.Oxidizing the human body means oxidizing cells,DNA,and the proteins and lipids that make up cell membranes.
We take in oxygen by breathing.Oxygen is carried by the red blood cells to other cells throughout the body.Ninety-nine percent of all the oxygen taken in eventually becomes water,while the remaining 1%becomes active oxygen that causes damage through oxidization.Continual exercise makes the amount of active oxygen rise above the normal level.This can be seen from the average lifespan of graduates from athletics schools,which is 5 years shorter than that of other people.
This is thought to be attributable to the effects of active oxygen.In the ?eld of bioscience it is already commonly recognized that most of the diseases in this modern age are caused by oxidization of body tissues.It is now common knowledge among the medical profession that a whole range of diseases are the result of oxidization by active oxygen.
As I mentioned in the introduction,in chemical terms,oxidization is the removal of electrons
from the body.Therefore,utilizing negative ions,that is,particles with an extra ion,helps to combat active oxygen.This chapter looks at ways of preventing the body from rusting,that is,becoming oxidized.