Are you hoping to ward off disease by stocking up on antioxidant supplements? New research out of Harvard University says you’d be wasting your money, or worse, some supplements may be doing you more harm than good.
A recently released study looked at whether antioxidant supplements like vitamin E and C really do reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and death from heart disease. Vitamin E and vitamin C are antioxidant nutrients that are thought to prevent free radical damage that can build up and lead to disease.
The study observed over 14,000 healthy men of 50 years and over who took 400 units of vitamin E every other day or 500 milligrams of vitamin C every day – or placebo – over eight years time. What they determined at the end of eight years was that there was absolutely no benefit from these supplements and there was no difference in the supplement users’ risk for heart attack, stroke, and death from heart disease. In fact, the vitamin E users had a higher risk of hemorrhagic stroke. So, the bottom line from this study is that antioxidant supplements do not appear to reduce heart attacks.
At this point, some of you may be questioning cancer risk and whether these antioxidants may still help reduce the risk of this disease. Well, there was no evidence also that antioxidant supplements reduce the risk of cancer.
In fact, early results from a recent trial of 25,000 men aged 50 years and older who were taking 200 milligrams of selenium or 400 units of vitamin E, or both in combination, found that these supplements taken alone or in combination did nothing to prevent prostate cancer.
So what should you do? Reap antioxidant health benefits from food not supplements!
While a multivitamin is safe and supplies a low dose of antioxidant supplements, it is more beneficial to keep disease risks low by adding antioxidant-rich foods to your diet. In other words, your antioxidants should come from foods that are loaded with other vitamins, fibre, and phytochemicals.
So where can you find them?
Vitamin C: Found in strawberries; citrus fruit (grapefruit and oranges); broccoli; red bell peppers; kiwi fruit; and tomato juice.
Vitamin E: Found in green leafy vegetables (Kale); vegetable oils (like olive, canola, and safflower oil); avocados; nuts and seeds
Selenium: Found in garlic; onions; Brazil nuts; mushrooms; seafood (shrimp and tuna)
Related Videos
