# Lipid peroxidation

Lipid peroxidation is a chain-reaction form of fat damage. It hits the polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) in your cell membranes, lipoproteins, and fat droplets. It kicks off when a reactive oxygen species (ROS) or other radical rips a specific hydrogen atom off a PUFA. That creates a fat radical, which grabs oxygen to become a fat peroxyl radical, which then attacks the next fat, and so on. The chain churns out reactive end-products like malondialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), which stick to your proteins and DNA and damage them. Heavy lipid peroxidation is tied to broken membranes, mitochondrial damage, and ferroptosis, a form of regulated cell death driven by runaway fat oxidation that is increasingly linked to brain and heart aging.

## Sources

- Esterbauer H, Schaur RJ, Zollner H. (1991). Chemistry and biochemistry of 4-hydroxynonenal, malondialdehyde and related aldehydes. Free Radical Biology and Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/0891-5849(91)90192-6
- Ayala A, Muñoz MF, Argüelles S. (2014). Lipid peroxidation: production, metabolism, and signaling mechanisms of malondialdehyde and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/360438

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_Canonical: https://longevity-switzerland.com/en/glossary/lipid-peroxidation · Part of Longevity Cities · Updated 2026-06-22_