pssst.... Antioxidants....

anovasjo

I've been stumbling upon articles that seem like they'd be good MFP fodder over the last few weeks. The most recent one is about the media darling Antioxidants.

Everybody talks about antioxidants like they're going to save your life if you eat them. I admit I'd let it cross my mind. But it's not really that simple.

Neuroscientist Jess Barnes writes:

"In fact, an enormous review was done of the antioxidant research. Bjelakovic and colleagues did a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that looked at what happened when people were given antioxidants supplements. This means that they looked at a whole heap of studies, kicked out the ones that weren’t rigorous enough, then tried to figure out the bigger picture that the well-conducted, rigorous studies were painting. They looked at 68 of these good-quality studies, which altogether tested the effects of antioxidant supplementation (in the form of beta carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E or selenium) in 232,606 people. With that many people, surely you’ve got the ability to detect even tiny little relationships between the antioxidant supplementation and health outcomes.

And the results of this enormously powerful meta-analysis? Some antioxidant supplementation might cause bad health outcomes, whereas others still have an unclear effect. Still! After all those studies and all those people! There was no clear benefit to taking extra antioxidants. This could be because: (a) there’s no relationship between extra antioxidants and the health variables being measured, (b) the relationship is so small and subtle it’s difficult to detect or (c) the effects are dependent on other variables that we aren’t taking account. My money’s on (c).

So it’s kind of scary when you think about how frequently the media and various companies (with a financial interest in getting us to buy their products) tell us we should be indiscriminately cramming antioxidants every which-way into our bodies. (Goji berries! You need goji berries! Or was it acai berries that were the latest superfood du jour? Oh god just get some pomegranate before it’s too late! Don’t you want to live forever?) It’s entirely unsurprising that most of us have absorbed the inaccurate message that antioxidants are always good for us and we need as big a dose as we can get.

But even though we don’t know what the right amount of antioxidants is for optimal health benefits (yet), and even though we don’t know what precise levels of antioxidants are in various products, and even though we’re surrounded by products with labels zealously screaming “FULL OF ANTIOXIDANTS!”, and even though we don’t know if we’re getting too little or too much, don’t despair! What should you do? It’s old and tired and not that interesting, but it’s the truth: eat a balanced diet and eat things in moderation. If you do that (along with some exercise) you’ve got a very good chance of getting pretty much everything you need to achieve very good health. If you’re eating tomatoes and carrots and that sort of thing and maybe a bit of dark chocolate here and there, you’re probably getting the antioxidants you need. Don’t fret!"

Commonly associated with Antioxidant fame & therefore Longevity -slash- Good Health:

- green tea
- pomegranate juice
- blueberries
- various supplements

et toi?