First of all, there is hydrogen peroxide, which is used as the main ingredient in the disinfectant oxydol and oxygen-based bleach. Oxydol produces bubbles when applied to a wound. Oxygen bleach also produces similar bubbles when you clean the laundry tub.

And now about “hypochlorous acid”. The pH (hydrogen ion index) of this “hypochlorous acid” is different, and there is a substance called “sodium hypochlorite”. Sodium hypochlorite is the main ingredient of chlorine bleach. It is the bleach that is labeled as “dangerous to mix”.

The difference between “hypochlorous acid” and “sodium hypochlorite” is “pH”, which indicates the difference between acidic and alkaline.

By the way, the acidity and alkalinity of pH explained here is completely different from oxidation of the body. As explained in the previous article: “What is antioxidation?“, it is completely different from redox as explained in the previous article. Hypochlorous acid is acidic and sodium hypochlorite is alkaline.

Originally, hypochlorous acid has stronger disinfecting power than hypochlorous acid, but I’ll explain it using chlorine bleach with “sodium hypochlorite” for simplicity.

Both oxygen bleach, which uses hydrogen peroxide, and chlorine bleach, which uses sodium hypochlorite, have disinfectant properties. In the body, when an infection is caused by bacteria, white blood cells swallow the bacteria to kill it.

However, just swallowing the bacteria is not enough to kill them, so the body activates oxygen to produce hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorous acid. These are used to disintegrate the bacteria and kill them. At the end of the process, they are thrown away.

In other words, both hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorous acid are made to protect the body from bacteria, etc., but when these ingredients are in excess, they can cause the body to rust.

When you touch bleach with your bare hands for a long time, don’t your hands tingle?

This means that inflammation is occurring. When bleach-like ingredients are excessively increased in the bloodstream, inflammation occurs throughout the body. This is what we mean by oxidative stress = inflammatory substances.

To be more specific, the cause of oxidative stress is reactive oxygen species.

The bubbles you see when you put oxydol on a wound.

This is because hydrogen peroxide, the source of oxydol, reacts with oxygen (oxidation) to sterilize the wound.

Oxidation = reaction with oxygen.

Oxygen is absolutely necessary for human life. Mitochondria, the nuclei of the body’s cells, need oxygen in order to produce energy from the sugar and protein we consume in our diet.

When this oxygen is not fully used and is left over in the body, a large amount of reactive oxygen species, the cause of oxidative stress, is produced. Oxidation itself is necessary for the body, but in this article, I would like you to understand that excessive oxidation caused by excessive reactive oxygen species has a negative effect on the body.