The Antioxidant Myth
 

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/...airy-tale.html

"Cranberry capsules. Green tea extract. Effervescent vitamin C. Pomegranate concentrate. Beta carotene. Selenium. Grape seed extract. High-dose vitamin E. Pine bark extract. Bee spit.

You name it, if it's an antioxidant, we'll swallow it by the bucket-load. According to some estimates around half the adults in the US take antioxidant pills daily in the belief they promote good health and stave off disease. We have become antioxidant devotees. But are they doing us any good? Evidence gathered over the past few years shows that at best, antioxidant supplements do little or nothing to benefit our health. At worst, they may even have the opposite effect, promoting the very problems they are supposed to stamp out."

...

"The conclusion is becoming clear: whatever is behind the health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, you cannot reproduce it by taking purified extracts or vitamin supplements. "Just because a food with a certain compound in it is beneficial, it does not mean a nutraceutical [with the same compound in] is," said Paul Coates, who works in the Office of Dietary Supplements at NIH.

Yet the fact remains that people eating diets abundant in vitamin C, vitamin E, polyphenols and carotenoids are less likely to suffer heart attacks, vascular disease, diabetes and cancer. One explanation is that these people have a generally healthier lifestyle - they exercise more and smoke less, for example. For now, no one knows for sure."

...

"If it turns out that antioxidants in food work because they generate health-promoting quantities of free radicals, that would be an ironic turnaround. It may also explain why supplements and extracts don't seem to work or may even be dangerous: the doses are too high, and produce too many free radicals.

For now, the advice is simple. "Stick to flavonoid-rich foods, red wine in moderation, tea, fruits and vegetables," says Halliwell. "Don't start taking high-dose supplements or heavily fortified foods, until we know more.""

In other words eat a healthy balanced diet and keep fit. You will live as long as you are suppose to.

Yep! :D

Very true.

diet and lifestyle should balance
 

I'm all about whole foods and a balanced diet, and think that if one eats right, there isn't need for vitamins, et al. But and except, when we push beyond a balanced lifestyle. For me, my Ironman training and racing isn't normal stress on the body, and my body has nutritional needs well beyond a sedentary person. Personally, I can feel a difference if I do a 100 mile ride or 20 mile run, say, and do or do not take my particular nutrition cocktail. As they say, one doesn't win the Tour on bread and water alone

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. A good explanation of the nutritionism myth.

good book
 

good book, great author.

Yes and No. While the most recent studies do say that high dosages of antioxidants can suppress the immune system, I'm sure another study will say the opposite in 6 months.

I think people should target what their most pressing need is. Cholesterol, Diabetes, High blood pressure, etc... and supplement specifically for these things in high dosages. But not in general because it's expensive and your liver and kidney's have enough to worry about.

I say juicing is the best. Just look at Jack La Lane

All I know is I loooooove my fish oil... makes the ol creaky knee feel much better.

Works for me and glucosamine / chondroitin never did.

Fish oil is a different beast than antioxidants. Omega 3s have been shown in the primary literature to have an important role and that the typical Western diet is severely deficient in it. Between mercury and contamination issues with seafood and the fragility of the aquatic ecosystem, I'm not sure how else you can get by. ;)