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The Oxygen Paradox, the French Paradox, and age-related diseases
Open accessAbstract
A paradox is a seemingly absurd or impossible concept, proposition, or theory that is often difficult to understand or explain, sometimes apparently self-contradictory, and yet ultimately correct or true. How is it possible, for example, that oxygen "a toxic environmental poison" could be also indispensable for life (Beckman and Ames Physiol Rev 78(2):547-81, 1998; Stadtman and Berlett Chem Res Toxicol 10(5):485-94, 1997)?: the so-called Oxygen Paradox (Davies and Ursini 1995; Davies Biochem Soc Symp 61:1-31, 1995). How can French people apparently disregard the rule that high dietary intakes of cholesterol and saturated fats (e.g., cheese and paté) will result in an early death from cardiovascular diseases (Renaud and de Lorgeril Lancet 339(8808):1523-6, 1992; Catalgol et al. Front Pharmacol 3:141, 2012; Eisenberg et al. Nat Med 22(12):1428-1438, 2016)?: the so-called, French Paradox. Doubtless, the truth is not a duality and epistemological bias probably generates apparently self-contradictory conclusions. Perhaps nowhere in biology are there so many apparently contradictory views, and even experimental results, affecting human physiology and pathology as in the fields of free radicals and oxidative stress, antioxidants, foods and drinks, and dietary recommendations; this is particularly true when issues such as disease-susceptibility or avoidance, "healthspan," "lifespan," and ageing are involved. Consider, for example, the apparently paradoxical observation that treatment with low doses of a substance that is toxic at high concentrations may actually induce transient adaptations that protect against a subsequent exposure to the same (or similar) toxin. This particular paradox is now mechanistically explained as "Adaptive Homeostasis" (Davies Mol Asp Med 49:1-7, 2016; Pomatto et al. 2017a; Lomeli et al. Clin Sci (Lond) 131(21):2573-2599, 2017; Pomatto and Davies 2017); the non-damaging process by which an apparent toxicant can activate biological signal transduction pathways to increase expression of protective genes, by mechanisms that are completely different from those by which the same agent induces toxicity at high concentrations. In this review, we explore the influences and effects of paradoxes such as the Oxygen Paradox and the French Paradox on the etiology, progression, and outcomes of many of the major human age-related diseases, as well as the basic biological phenomenon of ageing itself.
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“Under conditions of an imbalanced redox state, increased mitochondrial ROS production might lead to modifications of the arterial walls180, followed by an inflammatory environment181.”
From Mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction in ageing and age-related diseases (2022) · cites this paper as [181]
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Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Davies, J. M. S., Cillard, J., Friguet, B., Cadenas, E., Cadet, J., Cayce, R., Fishmann, A., Liao, D., Bulteau, A.-L., Derbré, F., Rébillard, A., Burstein, S., Hirsch, E., Kloner, R. A., Jakowec, M., Petzinger, G., Sauce, D., Sennlaub, F., Limon, I., Ursini, F., Maiorino, M., Economides, C., Pike, C. J., Cohen, P., Salvayre, A. N., Halliday, M. R., Lundquist, A. J., Jakowec, N. A., Mechta-Grigoriou, F., Mericskay, M., Mariani, J., Li, Z., Huang, D., Grant, E., Forman, H. J., Finch, C. E., Sun, P. Y., Pomatto, L. C. D., Agbulut, O., Warburton, D., Neri, C., Rouis, M., Cillard, P., Capeau, J., Rosenbaum, J., & Davies, K. J. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern California (US)
- Université de Rennes (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Université de Sherbrooke (CA)
- Good Samaritan Hospital (US)
- École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (FR)
- Université Rennes 2 (FR)
- Huntington Medical Research Institutes (US)
- Inserm (FR)
- Institut de la Vision (FR)
- University of Padua (IT)
- Université Paris-Sud (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Davies, Kelvin J. A.
- ORCID
- Friguet, Bertrand
- Cadenas, Enrique
- Cadet, Jean
- Bulteau, Anne-Laure
- Rébillard, Amélie
- Kloner, Robert A.
- Jakowec, Michael
- Petzinger, Giselle
- Sauce, Delphine
- Sennlaub, Florian
- Limon, Isabelle
- Ursini, Fulvio
- Maiorino, Matilde
- Pike, Christian J.
- Cohen, Pinchas
- Halliday, Matthew R.
- Lundquist, Adam J.
- Jakowec, Nicolaus A.
- Mericskay, Mathias
- Mariani, Jean
- Li, Zhenlin
- Grant, Ellsworth
- Forman, Henry J.
- Finch, Caleb E.
- Sun, Patrick Y.
- Pomatto, Laura C. D.
- Agbulut, Onnik
- Warburton, David
- Rouis, Mustapha
- Capeau, Jacqueline
- Rosenbaum, Jean
- Davies, Kelvin J. A.
- Venue
- GeroScience
- Published
- 2017-12
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 5-6
- Pages
- 499-550
- ISSN
- 2152-4041 (ISSN-L)
- 2509-2715
- 2509-2723
- PMC
- PMC5745211
- OpenAlex
- W2779963304
- Cited by
- 82
- References
- 445
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 7
- FWCI
- 1.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- GeroScience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Padua Research Archive (University of Padova) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (#DGE-1418060)
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (#ES023864, #R01ES020812, #D43ES022862, #ES003598)
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
- National Institute on Aging (# AG-040753, # AG058068, # P01AG034906, # R01AG034430, # AG052374)
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Université Pierre et Marie Curie
- Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier
- Conseil Régional de Bretagne
- Ligue Contre le Cancer
- Fondation de France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
- U.S. Department of Defense (DOD-PC160353U)
- American Foundation for Aging Research
- Don Roberto Gonzalez and Family Foundation
- National Parkinson Foundation
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (#U01HL122681)
- Pasadena Guild
- Children's Hospital Los Angeles
- the webb foundation
- The Garland Foundation
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry (medical) › Antioxidant Activity and Oxidative Stress
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry (medical) › Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Keywords
- oxygen paradox, French paradox, free radicals, oxidative stress, antioxidants, cardiovascular disease, age-related diseases, healthspan, lifespan, aging, adaptive homeostasis, hormesis, epigenetics, epigenetic reprogramming, epigenetic drift, epigenetic plasticity, epigenetic memory, epigenetic inheritance, epigenetic noise
- MeSH terms
- Diet, High-Protein, Adaptation, Physiological, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Female, France, Free Radicals, Humans, Hypercholesterolemia, Male, Middle Aged, Oxygen, Geriatric Assessment, Oxidative Stress, Risk Assessment
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