It Only Takes That Tiny Electron To Cause Those Health Problems.

It may be tiny, but it can cause many problems that build up over time!

When the word “electron” is mentioned, most of us will tend to associate it with something to do with electricity. Indeed, electrons and electricity are very closely associated. The electricity that we get from our power outlets comes from electrical charges that are transported by electrons.

But the focus on this story is about how the electron can affect our health. How does it do that, really?

The Energy Generation Process In Our Body

Our body comprises 38 trillion cells, and all these cells do not run directly on electrical power, or else we could easily plug ourselves into a power outlet and get recharged.

We get our energy from the food and drink that we consume. Carbohydrates get broken down into glucose, and fats get broken down into ketones, which can then be converted to the substrate acetyl-coenzyme A (or acetyl-CoA), as I have outlined in The Science of Ketosis.

Acetyl-CoA then gets shuttled into the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA, also known as the citric acid cycle or the Krebs cycle), which produces both the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (or NADH) and the reduced form of flavin adenine dinucleotide (or FADH2).

These NADH and FADH2 molecules are then oxidised by the electron transport chain. Electrons are removed from NADH (to form NAD+) and FADH (to form FAD), and the electrons are transported along the chain by Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). Protons are pumped from the mitochondrial matrix to the intermembrane space to form a proton gradient, and the electrons are finally used to reduce molecular oxygen to water.

In the mitochondria, the ATP synthase enzyme then makes use of the proton gradient to synthesise adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is where cells derive their energy from.

Defects In The Electron Transport Chain

However, the electron transport chain can be defective. Some of the electrons may leak out of the chain and react directly with the molecular oxygen molecules to form superoxide radicals, which are a type of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that I have discussed in their contributions to aging (Vanity and Aging As Linked By The Same Chemical, Really.)

These superoxide radicals are highly reactive and can cause damage to other parts of the body, such as in the oxidation of low density lipoproteins (LDL), as I have shown in Now, Seriously, What’s So Tricky About Cholesterol?, or in the perpetual constriction of our arteries, which contributes to hypertension (You Don’t Have To Be Pressured About Hypertension — Or Do You?)

Thankfully, as I have illustrated, our cells do contain endogenous glutathione antioxidant molecules that can help to neutralise these pro-oxidant ROS molecules. However, we do need to be constantly producing them. If there is insufficient glutathione available to neutralise these ROS molecules, the body will enter a state of oxidative stress.

What Can Oxidative Stress Do To Us?

Oxidative stress can significantly change up the biochemical equilibria in our body, which in a body is highly regulated . In doing so, it signals certain cells to produce more of certain things, and signals other cells to produce less of others. One of the things that is being produced in greater amounts is the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin 1-beta (IL-1β), which isn’t good at all for us, because…

1. IL-1β overrides the insulin signal and signals cells to take in less glucose than is necessary, leading to insulin resistance and finally Type 2 diabetes (Type 2 Diabetes — A Case of The Immune System Gone Bad, Too?).
2. IL-1β signals osteoclast cells in the bone to dissolve bone mineral faster than the osteoblast cells can manufacture new bone mineral, which leads to osteopenia and finally osteoporosis (Why Does Osteoporosis Affect Post-Menopausal Women More Significantly Than Other People?).
3. IL-1β is also responsible for signalling our immune system’s macrophage cells to produce more matrix metalloproteinase enzymes for digesting collagen, which can affect our joints via osteoarthritis (What The Deuce Is Different Between Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis?) or the atherosclerotic plaques that are covered by a collagen cap (Now, Seriously, What’s So Tricky About Cholesterol?).

The Problem Is… This Doesn’t Happen Overnight

Health problems such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis weren’t problems that developed overnight as we slept.

We don’t wake up one day and feel that constant ache in our joints. They build up. Atherosclerotic plaques build up. Blood glucose levels build up. Bone mineral dissolves away gradually.

It’s such a slow process that takes years — hence we may not even feel it at all, until it’s too late. We may not even feel that anything’s wrong, until our doctor tells us that our blood pressure is too high.

All it takes is one electron at a time. Little by little, slowly but steadily.

Poor lifestyle choices help to accelerate the problem, as I illustrate in Four Ways That Our Lifestyle Affects Our Immune System. The stress, the insufficient exercise, the poor nutrition in modern day diets and the sleep deprivation that many people face can all contribute to the problem and exacerbate it further.

As a cup can be filled to the brim by the dropwise addition of a liquid, so can oxidative stress be achieved by a continuous leakage of electrons from the electron transport chains. There are 38 trillion options for electrons to leak from at any time, too.

All it takes is an electron. Unseen to the naked eye, smaller even than a COVID-19 coronavirus particle. It only takes a spark to get a fire going. But that fire, once raging internally within our bodies, provides a cascading inflammation signal in the body that will be difficult to quell.

Joel Yong, PhD, is a biochemical engineer/scientist, an educator and a writer. He has authored 1 ebook (which is available on Amazon.com in Kindle format) and co-authored 6 journal articles in internationally peer-reviewed scientific journals. His main focus is on finding out the fundamentals of biochemical mechanisms in the body that the doctors don’t educate the lay people about, and will then proceed to deconstruct them for your understanding — as an educator should. Do visit his website here to connect.