Imagine your body as a bustling city. Every cell is a building filled with busy workers — enzymes, nutrients, and molecules — all generating energy to keep the lights on. Just like any city, this activity creates waste: smoke, exhaust, and the occasional spark. Those sparks are what scientists call oxidative stress.
Your cells are built with cleanup crews to manage it — powerful systems that put out fires, recycle waste, and keep the city safe. When those systems falter or become overwhelmed, that’s when “oxidative damage” begins.
Table of Contents
- Why Oxidative Balance Matters
- The Three Pillars of Oxidative Balance
- How These Markers Work Together
- What Healthy Levels Look Like
- Why the BioMetrix™ BioScan Is So Unique
- How Plasmalogens Support a Healthy Oxidative Balance
- Why This Knowledge Empowers You
The BioMetrix™ BioScan is one of the few advanced blood tests that measures over 40 key biochemical markers spanning lipid metabolism, mitochondrial activity, peroxisomal function, inflammation, and antioxidant defense.
Among these markers, three stand out as the primary indicators of oxidative balance — MDA, Catalase, and SOD — which together reveal how efficiently your body manages oxidative stress and maintains cellular stability.
Why Oxidative Balance Matters
Oxidation isn’t bad. In fact, your cells need a controlled amount of it for energy and defense. The problem starts when the balance tips too far in one direction.
Too much oxidation creates a flood of free radicals — unstable molecules that act like sparks eating away at your cells’ walls, proteins, and DNA. Too little oxidation can be just as unhealthy, leaving your body sluggish and unable to respond to threats.
The ideal state is balance — what scientists call redox balance. It’s the equilibrium between oxidation (the spark) and reduction (the repair).
The Three Pillars of Oxidative Balance
These three markers are like the city’s emergency services — each with a unique job that keeps everything running smoothly.
1. MDA (Malondialdehyde): The Smoke Detector
When a building catches fire, smoke is the first sign something’s wrong. MDA is that smoke. It’s produced when fats in your cell membranes get oxidized — a process called lipid peroxidation.
High MDA levels mean your cell “walls” are taking damage. Low MDA levels suggest your defenses are strong and oxidation is under control. Measuring MDA tells you how much wear and tear your membranes are experiencing right now.
In simple terms: MDA reveals whether your body’s “city” is running clean or whether invisible smoke is building up in the air.
2. Catalase: The Firefighter
Every time your body generates energy, it produces hydrogen peroxide — the same compound used to disinfect cuts. In small amounts, it’s useful. In excess, it’s toxic.
That’s where Catalase comes in. It’s one of your body’s most important antioxidant enzymes — breaking hydrogen peroxide into harmless water and oxygen.
High Catalase activity means your firefighters are on duty and ready to respond. Low Catalase activity means your system is overwhelmed, leaving hydrogen peroxide to cause oxidative chaos.
Analogy: Catalase is like the fire department constantly patrolling the city, dousing sparks before they spread into dangerous blazes.
3. Superoxide Dismutase (SOD): The First Responder
Before hydrogen peroxide even forms, a more reactive molecule called the superoxide radical shows up — a volatile spark that can damage everything it touches.
SOD (Superoxide Dismutase) is the first responder on the scene. It converts that dangerous spark into hydrogen peroxide, which Catalase then neutralizes.
Optimal SOD levels mean your body is responding quickly to oxidative threats. Low SOD means those sparks linger too long, damaging surrounding tissues. Extremely high SOD may indicate your body is under stress and constantly fighting fires.
Together, SOD and Catalase act like a coordinated emergency system: one detects and contains, the other neutralizes and restores calm.
How These Markers Work Together
Oxidative balance is like a relay race between your first responders:
These three values together paint a complete picture of your redox state — something most standard blood tests cannot see.
What Healthy Levels Look Like
Understanding what “balanced” means for each of these markers helps you make sense of your results. These are not disease cutoffs, but functional ranges that indicate how efficiently your antioxidant systems are working.
Each of these markers tells a different part of your redox story — like three instruments playing in harmony. Here’s what a healthy range typically looks like, and what it means when one plays too softly or too loud.
MDA (Malondialdehyde)
Think of MDA as the smoke that rises when cell membranes burn. In a healthy state, you want very little smoke — that means your system is running clean. Ideally, MDA should stay under 1.0. When it rises, it signals that your cells are experiencing too much oxidation, like smog building in a busy city.
Catalase
Catalase is your hydrogen peroxide neutralizer — the firefighter enzyme. A strong, steady response (roughly in the 20–30 range) means your body is clearing peroxide efficiently and staying calm under pressure. Too little Catalase and the fires smolder. Too much, and your system might be overreacting to constant oxidative “flare-ups.”
Superoxide Dismutase (SOD)
SOD steps in first when stress hits. It converts the most reactive oxygen sparks into safer forms that Catalase can handle. A healthy range is about 10–20. Lower than that means your “first responders” are under-equipped. Higher means they’re in overdrive, often from chronic stress or inflammation.
In balance, these three form the ideal oxidative rhythm: MDA low, Catalase steady and strong, SOD active but calm.
Why the BioMetrix™ BioScan Is So Unique
Most blood tests look at cholesterol, glucose, or vitamin levels — useful, but surface-level information. The BioMetrix™ BioScan goes deeper, analyzing how your body functions, not just what it contains.
Unlike standard blood panels, the BioMetrix™ BioScan integrates markers of oxidation and antioxidant defense — MDA, Catalase, and SOD — in a single analysis, offering one of the most accurate and comprehensive views of your body’s redox balance available today.
This matters because oxidative stress doesn’t happen in isolation — it connects to how your mitochondria produce energy, how your lipids protect your cells, and how your peroxisomes manage fatty acid metabolism.
By evaluating all these systems in one integrated analysis, the BioMetrix™ BioScan helps you and your clinician understand whether your body’s cellular “fire department” is operating efficiently — or whether silent damage is building behind the scenes.
Learn more about the BioMetrix™ BioScan
You can’t fix what you can’t see. The BioMetrix™ BioScan reveals what your body’s stress response looks like in real time — before it becomes visible in symptoms.
How Plasmalogens Support a Healthy Oxidative Balance
Plasmalogens are specialized lipids that act as the body’s built-in antioxidants — the shock absorbers in your cellular membranes. They sit right where oxidation starts and neutralize free radicals before damage spreads.
When plasmalogen levels are low, oxidative stress increases. When they rise, MDA levels tend to fall, while Catalase and SOD normalize — indicating a healthier redox state.
Supplements such as ProdromeNeuro™ and ProdromeGlia™ provide the building blocks your body needs to restore those protective lipids and reinforce your antioxidant network.
Think of plasmalogens as upgrading your city’s infrastructure — replacing old wires, insulating circuits, and preventing sparks before they ever start.
Why This Knowledge Empowers You
Understanding your oxidative balance isn’t just lab science — it’s the foundation of your long-term vitality.
- See how your body responds to stress and energy production
- Measure how well your antioxidant systems are working
- Track progress over time as you make changes in diet, exercise, or supplementation
The BioMetrix™ BioScan transforms invisible cellular chemistry into actionable knowledge — helping you strengthen your body’s natural defenses from the inside out.
References
- Harman, D. (2001). The role of oxidative stress in aging and disease. Free Radical Biology & Medicine, 31(9), 1–13.
- Ighodaro, O. M., & Akinloye, O. A. (2018). First line defense antioxidants—Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX): Their fundamental role in the entire antioxidant defense grid. Frontiers in Life Science, 9, 1–11.
- Del Rio, D., Stewart, A. J., & Pellegrini, N. (2005). A review of recent studies on malondialdehyde as a marker of oxidative stress. Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases, 15(4), 316–328.
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Braverman, N. E., & Moser, A. B. (2012). Functions of plasmalogen lipids in health and disease. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Molecular Basis of Disease, 1822(9), 1442–1452.
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