Summary of The Introduction to Life in a Bottle

Oxidation (in a biological context) is the flow of electrons from elements like Hydrogen and Carbon to Oxygen
Oxygen is very reactive. Chlorophyll took its electrons away and it would very much like to get them back.
In metabolism – the oxidation of starch and fat – free radicals, notably superoxide, are produced from Oxygen. These free radicals are much stronger pro-oxidants than Oxygen. The family of pro-oxidants in biological systems are called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS).
Reactive Oxygen Species are important biological signals.
Each human cell has a robust built-in antioxidant system to protect it from the damaging effects of ROS
Antioxidants are electron donors
pro-oxidants are electron acceptors (takers)
ROS can be demonstrated to extend the life of nematodes
Antioxidants can be used to shorten the life of those same worms
Antioxidants can eliminate the benefits of exercising!
ROS is the signal!

Thanks for checking out the intro series for Fire in a Bottle. Please check back! Here are the topics we’ll be covering as soon as possible:

The role of ROS in obesity and diabetes
The role of ROS in heart disease and cancer
The effect of consuming highly-prone-to-oxidative-damage vegetable oils, aka polyunsaturated fats aka PUFA aka linoleic acid in a metabolism that uses ROS (highly prone to causing oxidative damage) as a primary signalling molecule
The effects of consuming already oxidized PUFA
The changing PUFA content of our meat supply over the past century and a half
How to FIX the PUFA problem in our meat
The alternative theory of what caused heart disease rates to plummet in the US starting in 1960