Protect your cellular health. Start with a simple at home test.

It's what happens when your body makes more free radicals than its antioxidant defenses can keep up with. Free radicals are unstable molecules produced during everyday processes like turning food into energy. In small amounts they do useful work. When they build up, they can damage cells.

Malondialdehyde (MDA) in your urine. MDA forms when free radicals damage the fats in cell membranes, and it's a widely used marker of oxidative stress. The strip changes color with your MDA level, and you match it to the chart on the bottle.

Smoking, a diet low in antioxidants, pollution and environmental toxins, and physical or emotional stress are common contributors. Very intense exercise can raise it temporarily, too — so a reading taken right after a hard training block may run higher than usual.

Your strip falls into one of four levels. Normal suggests your oxidative and antioxidant activity are in balance. Caution suggests oxidative stress is elevated — a good prompt to look at sleep, diet and stress. High and Severe suggest significant oxidative stress; if you see those readings more than once, it's worth talking to a healthcare professional.

No. It's a wellness test that shows your MDA level. It doesn't diagnose, treat or manage any condition and isn't a replacement for tests or visits with your healthcare provider. If you have health concerns, talk to your provider.

Take one strip out and close the cap tightly. Dip the pad in fresh, well-mixed urine for no more than 1 second. Tap off the excess on a tissue, wait 3 minutes, then match the pad to the color chart on the bottle.

Read it at 3 minutes. The color can keep changing after 4 minutes, so ignore anything that shows up after that.

Regular testing shows you trends instead of one-off readings, which is most useful when you're changing something like diet, sleep or training. Testing under similar conditions each time makes your readings easier to compare.

Everyday habits make a difference. Regular sleep gives your body time to repair. A diet rich in fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains supplies antioxidants. Moderate exercise strengthens your defenses, and relaxation practices like yoga or deep breathing ease physical and mental stress. Retesting after you make changes shows whether your readings move.

Reading the strip at the wrong time, strongly colored urine, and some medications can all affect accuracy. MDA is one marker among many, so read your result alongside how you feel and how you live.

In the bottle with the cap on tight, somewhere dry at 36–86°F (2–30°C), away from sunlight. Don't freeze them. If a strip has been out of the bottle for 20 minutes or more, or looks discolored, use a new one. Don't touch the test pad.