Copyright ©1995 by Jack Challem
Reproduced from The Nutrition Reporter™ newsletter.
All rights reserved.

Although air pollution, exposure to sunlight, and cigarette smoke are significant sources of damaging free radicals, most free radicals are actually byproducts of the normal process of respiration-breathing-and energy production. These free radicals can damage deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and lead to mutations that cause cancer. In general, the higher the rate of respiration-heavy breathing, so to speak-the greater the number of free radicals produced.

People who exercise, of course, increase their rate of respiration and, consequently, their production of free radicals. But the danger from these free radicals may be particularly acute for people who over-exercise-unless they consistently take vitamin E.

Recently, a team of researchers at the University of Ulm, Germany, confirmed that over-exercise damages DNA. In one experiment, they asked eight men ages 29 to 34 to run on a treadmill until exhausted, which took about 18 minutes. When Günter Speit, MD, and his colleagues analyzed the DNA in five subjects' white blood cells, they noted considerable exercise-induced DNA damage.

Next, the researchers gave five of the subjects a multivitamin/multimineral supplement before and after the treadmill exercise. DNA damage was increased, most likely because copper and iron in the supplement generated additional free radicals, according to an article by Speit, and his colleagues in Mutation Research (April 1995;346:195-202).

In a third test, five of the subjects received 800 IU of vitamin E two times before the treadmill exercise and once more about a day later. The DNA damage was reduced.

The greatest protective effect of vitamin E, however, occurred when the five subjects took 1,200 IU of vitamin E daily for two weeks before the treadmill exercise. In this test, the vitamin E prevented all DNA damage in four of the subjects and reduced DNA damage in the fifth.

The information provided by Jack Challem and The Nutrition Reporter™ newsletter is strictly educational and not intended as medical advice. For diagnosis and treatment, consult your physician.