Network Antioxidants
as a System
for Detox and Rejuvenation
Antioxidants work together for a combined effect that is great than the whole by recycling each other and addressing different weak links in a system. They also lessen side effects of detoxification.
This is much different that taking one for each symptom, “take this for that.”
- C for a cold
- CoQ10 for the heart
- Alpha Lipoic Acid for diabetic neuropathy and blood sugar.
- E for skin
Marketing of supplements also relies on simplistic messages like this.
This misinformation trains people to think they would not benefit these nutrients because they don’t have these symptoms.
The holistic alternative is to understand how all the antioxidants work together at root cause level to improve any and all symptoms by improving your general energy level first. Energy is not just a symptom but the capacity to do all cellular work. You can use 7 antioxidants to fix 20 to 30 symptoms, for example, instead of trying to match each symptom with a remedy separately. Thus you can improve symptoms and rejuvenate in ways that you cannot anticipate.
The science has not yet been done to fully explain this method, partly because the right questions have not been asked from a more complex systems perspective because they are more concerned about isolating variables around something easier to measure. That’s a necessary part of science, but individuals and practitioners need additional methods.
Antioxidants are part the very basic functioning of the body from energy production in all cells to detoxification and immunity.
The reasons to take antioxidants as a group are:
- Synergy of the total is greater than the sum of the parts.
- There are specific functions to different antioxidants.
- To mitigate negative symptoms of detoxification and die-off when killing infections.
One of the top research scientists on antioxidant is Lester K. Packard, published in many scientific papers and a popular book. He explains that there are 5 core antioxidants and at least three kinds of supporting antioxidants.
The core antioxidants are C, E, CoQ10, glutathione, and alpha lipoic acid.
The synergy effect is that they recycle each other. Recycling is the regeneration by adding back the missing electron after the antioxidant performs its function of donating an electron, which then turns it into an oxidizer or free radical itself. This free radical could then do damage when it is not recycled or directed toward a purpose, which the body is actually designed to do when it has all the nutrient cofactors.
Free radicals are not all bad because they are also part of healthy chemical reactions when properly targeted. Nevertheless, you can imagine that when the recycling process is incomplete those free radicals may create side-effects like feeling worse when we detoxify. So you may remove your mercury but then have to suffer another problem. Or maybe the mercury is released into a more vulnerable location like the brain, as sometimes happens with the improper use of things like alpha lipoic acid.
Specific roles of anti-oxidants begin to break down as:
- C and Glutathione are water soluble.
- E and CoQ10 are fat soluble—go into fat tissues to protect and detoxify.
- Alpha Lipoic Acid is both, so it can go everywhere into all kinds of tissues, and into the brain.
- Selenium works with E and on its own as a powerful detoxifier of metals like mercury and lead.
- Bioflavanoids work with C.
- Carotenoids are varied and common in the diet to play important roles.
I’m not saying that supplements are always necessary for these nutrients, and I won’t go into details here if you are reading this in social media with endless back and forth as a shopping consultant as if I can give advice to people I don’t know when nutrition is highly individual. This is about theory and methods.
The general role of energizing the body is most directly illustrated by CoQ10 and its utilizable form of Ubiquinol that is part of the mitochondria’s production of energy in every cell. The name ubiquinol comes from the word “ubiquitous” or found everywhere. Its role is general, not just for the heart. The heart stops, in part, when the body runs out of energy and crucial nutrients, like magnesium, potassium, and ubiquinol, so it is not just the heart that is the problem.
Vitamin C and ascorbic acid is a very general purpose foundational nutrient. It is actually key to the immune system macrophages, etc., in fighting toxins and pathogens / germs. Once it donates an electron its free radical form leads to a chain reaction through macrophages to create a useful free radical, nitric oxide, that can target germs or chemicals for destruction. Ascorbic acid is found to work as well as vitamin C, a rare exception to the rule that natural is better than synthetic.
Glutathione is considered the body’s master antioxidant and is found it all cells and especially the liver that specializes in detoxification.
E working with selenium especially is very helpful to metals detoxification.
Alpha lipoic acid is perhaps the strongest anti oxidant. It is thought to be able to directly detoxify metals like mercury and being water and fat soluble can cross the blood brain barriers. It’s main role may be in the recycling of glutathione, C and CoQ10. ALA also regulates Nfr2, which has caught people’s attention lately.
Packer says that C is like the hub of the network because it can recycle both water and fat soluble antioxidants like E. It also helps recycle glutathione.
To extend the metaphor, if C is the hub of a wheel, the other antioxidants are like spokes of the wheel, and the tire is alpha lipoic acid that makes the whole thing go around fast. ALA is the biggest recycler and in practice known to be the most aggressive antioxidant for detoxification—which also means it can create the most problems when used improperly and out of the context of its role in the whole system.
In my own experimentation I experienced that ALA multiplies the effect of other detoxifiers and can create a lot of energy when you don’t over-do it and figure out all the other nutrients you have to increase to keep up with a faster energy expenditure and metabolic activity across the board. It is for rejuvenation and energizing. But when you are toxic, you have to use other antioxidants to even tolerate ALA in the first place, so ALA is often the last thing to implement to complete your system.
The use of ALA in the Andrew Cutler Chelation protocol lacks usage of the full range of antioxidants and other nutrients in a methodical manner and many people cannot tolerate use of ALA or only in very small doses. They treat ALA as chelator that grabs a hold of mercury, but do not recognize its a role in recycling the other antioxidants and therefore focus on balancing with other antioxidants.
The problem of tolerating detox is said to be redistribution of toxicity that is stirred up but not fully bound and excreted. The nature of the problem is not fully understood.
- Does ALA let go of the toxin before it is out?
- Do other antioxidants serve a role in catching toxins and neutralize what is stirred up, or regenerating ALA itself to pick it back up?
- Is there collateral damage in the tissues that occurs even when the tightest binder Boyd Haley’s OSR is used, because people do experience side-effects from OSR, proving either that it does not fully bind or the problem is not binding. Either way, there is not a one-shot solution.
I think most uses of ALA for detox are missing use of the other antioxidants to tolerate detoxification side effects. Taking a range of antioxidants enabled me to tolerate much higher doses with taking few breaks between rounds. The same worked for killing infections like candida, the “herxing” from die-off can be neutralized with antioxidants.
The Cutler protocol rules of following rounds of 3 days on 4 days off are only a necessity within the constraints of anti oxidant and other nutritional deficiencies. And by all means follow those rules when you don’t know how to do what I describe here, because it’s hard to learn. Take breaks when you are overwhelmed, feel worse. But I learned how to keep going at very high doses because it made me feel better. Now I take the whole network to keep up with escalating toxic exposures and rejuvenation in the race against aging. I can feel a difference.
Dr Chris Shade of Quicksilver Scientific specializes in mercury detox. He recognizes the role of ALA as a recycler of glutathione, which may be its major benefit. However, he does not rely as much on ALA perhaps because he relies on R-ALA instead of the S form that is actually R/S both. “The science” shows that R ala is better, but advanced practitioners disagree including Cutler and Burt Berkson, the first doctor to publish a book on ALA illustrating its many roles for all kinds of diseases including liver diseases like hepatitis. R/S lipoic works great. I tried the first version of R ALA I heard of from Genova years ago but it was nothing special. Some people may like it better because it is weaker and they cannot tolerate R/S ALA well so they avoided symptoms.
The antioxidant network is an alternative to binders and chelators like clay, charcoal, zeolite, pectin, dmsa. There is nothing wrong with binders but binders don’t work with the body’s processes in a multifaceted way. They do not energize but some may even remove minerals. I have found I can neutralize even sickening nausea faster with antioxidants.
Health is about electrons. Electrons are "for" everything. Antioxidants are electron donors. The sun is the biggest electron generator through Einstein’s photo electric effect that charges the water in your body like a battery. Sun is not just “for” vitamin D. Dr. Jack Kruse has famously said that health is about the net negative charge of the cell, that is, the amount of electrons. The fundamental process is “redox” which is the exchange of electrons throughout many cellular processes from antioxidant to oxidizing form, involving light as well. More electrons is better. Oxidizing therapies should be used cautiously if at all, most people don’t know that and don’t know when and how to use oxidizing therapies. This is the big picture, not “take this for that.” Redox to detox.
One must utilize nutrients in the right form, order, quantities, and with a process of fine-tuning. There is a hierarchy or order of implementation to enable one to build up to: right diet, deficiencies, basic antioxidants, then finally ALA at the top. It is more complicated than that, but that’s the idea. Read that again, it’s not a throw-away line at the end.
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Primal Rejuvenation
Systematic
enough to make a difference
Simple
enough to implement
Sensitive
to individual needs
Free Assessment of your Root Causes
and let's discuss over video what kind of plan is right for you
I work over video: Facebook, Zoom, Google, from Michigan, USA Hess.PaulC@gmail.com
Join me on Facebook where Follow me on FACEBOOK:
choose “See First” to get all notifications. blog posts
Primal Rejuvenation
Systematic
enough to make a difference
Simple
enough to implement
Sensitive
to individual needs
