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belgareth
02-28-2007, 03:13 PM
Antioxidants don't help you live longer By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer


Tue Feb 27, 2007



CHICAGO - Antioxidant vitamins taken by tens of millions of people

around the world won't lead to a longer life, according to an analysis of dozens of studies that adds to evidence

questioning the value of the popular supplements. The large review of separate studies on thousands of people found

no long-life benefit from vitamins A, E and C and beta carotene and selenium.

However, some experts said it's too early to toss out all

vitamin pills — or the possibility that they may have some health benefits. Others said the study supports the

theory that antioxidants work best when they are consumed in food rather than pills.

An estimated 80 million to 160 million people take

antioxidants in North America and Europe, about 10 to 20 percent of adults, the study's authors said. And last

year, Americans spent $2.3 billion on nutritional supplements and vitamins at grocery stores, drug stores and retail

outlets, excluding Wal-Mart, according to Information Resources Inc., which tracks sales.

The new study, appearing in Wednesday's

Journal of the American Medical Association, was led by the Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group at Copenhagen University

Hospital in Denmark. The Cochrane organization is a respected international network of experts that does systematic

reviews of scientific evidence on health interventions.



For the new report on antioxidants, the researchers first analyzed 68

studies involving 232,606 people and found no significant effect on mortality — neither good nor bad — linked to

taking antioxidants.

When they eliminated the lower-quality studies and looked only at the most trustworthy ones, they actually

found a higher risk of death for people taking vitamins: 4 percent for those taking vitamin E, 7 percent for beta

carotene and 16 percent for vitamin A. The actual cause of death in most studies was unknown,

however.

Those findings

are based on an analysis of 47 studies involving 180,938 people who were randomly assigned to get real vitamins or

dummy pills. Some involved superdoses far exceeding the recommended daily amount of the compounds; others involved

normal doses.

Some

experts who reviewed the research were dismissive of the increased death risk and the analysis overall, saying it

pooled studies that were too diverse.



However, the study's senior author, Dr. Christian Gluud of Copenhagen

University Hospital, said, "The main message is that prevention by beta carotene, vitamin A and vitamin E cannot be

recommended. These three antioxidant supplements may increase mortality."

Gluud said most of the studies didn't reveal why those

taking supplements died, but "in all likelihood, what they died from is what people normally die from, maybe

accelerated artherosclerosis, maybe cancer."



Antioxidant supplements have been tested repeatedly by many clinical

trials with no consistent clear evidence for their health effects, Gluud said.

"We have had this huge industry really wanting to

demonstrate an intervention effect that has gone to lengths to do so," Gluud said. "Sadly enough for the industry,

and for us as consumers, it has failed to do so."



Preliminary studies suggested antioxidants might block the

heart-damaging effects of oxygen on arteries and the cell damage that might encourage some kinds of

cancer.

But some

researchers now believe antioxidants work only when they are in food, or that people who eat vitamin-rich food are

healthier simply because they take better care of themselves. And beta carotene supplements have been found to

increase lung cancer risk in smokers.



Meir Stampfer, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard

School of Public Health, said the new analysis hasn't discouraged him from taking his

vitamins.

Stampfer said

the studies were too diverse to pool together because they looked at various combinations and doses of antioxidants

tested in different groups of people. The trials ranged from a three-month study of 109 elderly nursing home

residents to a 12-year study of 22,071 male doctors.



"This study does not advance our understanding, and could easily lead

to misinterpretation of the data," said Stampfer, who was not connected to the new

report.

The complaints

were echoed by Andrew Shao, a scientist at the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a supplement trade association.



"Only when they

included and excluded certain trials were they able to find this alleged increase in mortality, which they

themselves can't explain," Shao said. "There is plenty of data out there that show regular use of antioxidant

supplements help to maintain health."



Donald Berry, chairman of the department of biostatistics at the

University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, said the analysis persuades him antioxidants have no measurable

health benefits, but he disagrees with the researchers' finding of an increase risk of dying.



"There are so many

choices you can make when you're doing these analyses," he said.



Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition science and policy at

Tufts University who was not involved with the research, said the study's main message is: "Rely on food to get

your nutrients."

___



On the Net:



JAMA:

http://jama.ama-assn.org
(Yes, I

put that link in there.)

MeDieViL
03-01-2007, 01:35 PM
the only things that extend

life are
resveratrol, deprenyl, benagene and some others but they are pretty unknown and not used by many ppl

ShyAsianGuy26
07-29-2008, 05:52 PM
Actually all of that is

unproven... the only actual way to lengthen life is starvation which decreases your metabolic rate by up to 30%.

MOBLEYC57
08-06-2008, 08:21 PM
Back in the day ... a white

potatoe was suppose to be good source of energy. Now ... tis fattening. Go figure. :drunk:

Eat all the fruit you

want ... it's still SUGAR.

Are we getting smarter? :blink:

dluton
10-03-2008, 01:40 AM
Well friends my dad has made it

a habit to research various health websites and to make necessary inclusions in the dietary regimen. But my thoughts

are similar to MOBLEYC57- we can never evaluate the true goodness of eatables, what might be considered a healthy

food can soon become a fat inducing substance. I am literally tired of all these findings. Just plan to eat right,

exercise a lot and be fit. So far this has helped me to remain in a good health and I am sure it would continue to

remain as it is.

Rbt
10-05-2008, 06:24 PM
The study of nutrition especially in

the US stinks. IMO most of the reports I hear make me think no one really has a clue. One day X is good for you,

next day its bad for you, then it "may" have benefits, etc etc.

There is also the sad tendency for western

science to try to reduce it to "the one thing," the *one* ingredient, the *one* drug, the *one* behavior, etc, when

it seems more and more it's the *combination* of things that makes it work (a holistic approach).

It's even

difficult to determine what "eating right" means. And there are so many vested interests behind research that you

can't even trust supposedly "scientific" reports. And some "facts" seem to turn out to be myths. I've heard that

the "10,000" steps a day thing was traced to an advertising slogan for a pedometer made back in the 1930's. The

company had basically just come out with a model with an extra digit that let it count that high... and the "8

glasses of water a day" thing doesn't seem to have any scientific basis either.

One needs to bear in mind, at

least IMO also, that most medical/nutritional opinions are just that, opinions. And possibly outdated ones at

that.

<sigh>
:frustrate

idesign
10-05-2008, 06:54 PM
Agree wholeheartedly Rbt. One

can easily dismiss most of what you hear in the news. The "alternative medicine" crowd has done a lot of good

research, but you have to wade through that too, with an educated eye. Do your own investigating, and use common

sense is the only way to go. I'm with you, dluton and Mobes...

TATER!!!!

5alphareductase
11-18-2008, 01:55 PM
take a good daily

muli-vitamin every day, consume plenty of omega 3, 6, and 9 essential fatty acids, eat right and exercise.:thumbsup:

stay away from long term prescription drug use since drugs are disablers thus causing more problems. more problems

lead to more drugs and more drugs lead to more money for the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry.

abductor
11-19-2008, 09:43 PM
the suplements i took is based in

someway in what my granny (she got 95 years old) .

Example, when she got flu, she do kind of garlic tea and

lemon.
I take capsule of garlic, not every day.

she said to me .. no no must to be a tea you also need to

feel the vapor of hot tea into your nose.

Then I do the tea in her way, and take my garlic pill as well...

just to remember me that the generation war some time never end :)

I'm not big fun of vitamins supplements,

I think more important is know how to listen your own body. Sometimes when you are stressed better take 1 glass of

wine, or whiskey and relax.. but if you do it everyday your body will tell you that it's not correct. Others can

have nice results just listen kind of classic music. I like Mozart...

Maybe this week I'll try pycnogenol

..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_pine

[s]
Duc's back... Just quick break