Oxidative Stress! Starring the Thief, the Police, the Builder

Oxidative Stress sounds like a big big phrase. Understanding the meaning of it also caused some stress ... ha ha ha.

I have read quite a bit on what is oxidative stress and have come up with a version that is layman enough to explain free radical and anti-oxidant to a 4 year old?

Enjoy the story
=======================================

Starring :
Free Radical as the thief;
Antioxidant as the police;
Vitamins & Minerals as the builders

Crime Scene:
Your body cell as the house.

The Story:
The free radical is the thief that goes around to steal things from your body cells a.k.a the house. What do they steal? They steal molecules from the cells and in the process, the cells are damaged.

The antioxidant is like the police. They will go round to hunt down the thief. When the antioxidant catches the free radical, they will donate a molecule to the free radical so that the free radical stops going round to destroy the cells. But, the police cannot finish catching all the thieves, so there will be some cells which will be damaged.

Now, it is time for the grand entrance of our builder heros a.k.a vitamins & minerals. They will provide the raw materials for the body to repair itself.

Oxidative stress happens when there are more damages than repairs. Over a period of 10 - 20 years, this can potentially lead to faster aging and degenerative diseases (cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart diseases etc).

*** End of Story ***

Food for thought...
We should be getting our vitamins and minerals from our food. But really how much are you consuming of the right type of food? What did you have for your 3 meals today?

Here is a typical menu for a day:

breakfast : bread and coffee
lunch : fishball noodles
dinner : vegetables, meat and rice

Antioxidants, vitamins & minerals come from FRESH fruits and vegetables. So how fresh is our food based on the typical menu for a day?

Hope you enjoyed this story! :)