Transcript excerpt from a YouTube presentation (Jeffrey Bland, PhD) discussing how multiple micronutrient deficiencies (iron, zinc, biotin, B6, magnesium) can increase mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species. The speaker argues that addressing specific nutrient deficiencies (triage theory) is more effective than simply increasing antioxidant vitamins like C or E.
There hasn't been a perfect marker for saying, ah, somebody's oxidizing too much. But it's a little complicated because it turns out that what we've shown from mitochondria is if you make human cells too low in iron, you pour oxygen radicals out of your mitochondria, you make them too low in zinc, you do the same thing. You make them too low in biotin, you do the same thing, you make them Too low in B6, you do the same thing. And we worked out the mechanism. It has to do with heme biosynthesis in the mitochondria. But that I think is part of triage. When you're too low in all kinds of micronutrients, you're hitting the long term things. And one of the long term things is that you might have put out more oxygen rather. And what you need is not more vitamin C or vitamin E, it might help a little bit. But what you really need is getting the missing iron or the missing zinc or the missing magnesium or whatever is causing it. And so I think people have looked at oxidants and antioxidants in too simplistic a way, because all sorts of things will lead to oxidants being poured out of your mitochondria, all sorts of deficiencies. And what you need is a missing agent, not just more antioxidants. SA.
