Clipping Board » Illness Enters through Mouth ─ The information that has been made public is often just the tip of the iceberg...
"Free radicals are bad, antioxidants are good"—is this statement true or false? The truth might not be good news for the manufacturers of nutritional supplements.
By Lisa Melton
Cranberry capsules, green tea extract, effervescent vitamin C, pomegranate concentrate, betacarotene, selenium, grape seed extract, pine bark extract, vitamin E... We swallow these various products in large quantities as soon as we hear they contain antioxidants, believing they are beneficial for both preventing diseases and enhancing health.
But is this really the case? Evidence from the past few years suggests that antioxidant supplements offer little to no benefit to health; in fact, if taken in excessive doses, they might have the opposite effect, potentially turning disease prevention into disease causation.
It's not surprising that antioxidants have earned the title of "miracle supplements." Decades ago, scientists discovered a highly destructive chemical called free radicals, which are associated with the development of many diseases, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, cataracts, and arthritis.
Free radicals are unstable compounds containing unpaired electrons. To acquire the missing electrons, they oxidize other molecules (essentially causing them to "rust") to achieve balance. The oxidized molecules include proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and DNA. During the oxidation process, new free radicals are generated, leading to more damage.
Free radicals and other reactive oxygen species are byproducts of respiration. In other words, as long as a person is alive, reactive oxygen species are produced. Barry Halliwell, a biochemist at the National University of Singapore, says, "About one percent of the oxygen we absorb turns into reactive oxygen species. The human body produces about 1.7 kilograms of reactive oxygen species per year."
Exposure to X-rays, ozone, secondhand smoke, air pollutants, microorganisms, or industrial chemicals can generate free radicals, as can intense physical exercise.
In the 1980s, a potential weapon against free radicals emerged. Scientists have long known that people who consume large amounts of fruits and vegetables have lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and certain cancers—all diseases linked to free radical damage. We now know why: vegetables and fruits are rich in antioxidants, which neutralize free radicals, preventing them from oxidizing other molecules.
Halliwell, a pioneer in studying the relationship between free radicals and disease, says, "Scientists hypothesized that these antioxidants have protective effects. Consuming foods or supplements fortified with antioxidants could slow oxidative damage and reduce the risk of disease. Simply put: 'Free radicals are bad, antioxidants are good.'"
This concept has spawned a massive industry. According to the National Institutes of Health in the U.S., at least half of American adults take some form of nutritional supplement, with annual sales reaching $2.3 billion. It is estimated that the antioxidant market grew by 18% in 2005 alone.The most well-known antioxidants are Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and two major classes of phytochemicals: polyphenols (including flavonoids) and carotenoids (including beta-carotene and lycopene). Most nutritional supplements that claim to have antioxidant properties contain at least one of these antioxidants.
Since the early 1980s, scientists have used "double-blind randomized controlled trials" (where patients are randomly divided into treatment and control groups, and neither the patients nor the researchers know which group the patients are in, a standard method in medical research) to test antioxidants, but have failed to prove their efficacy: while they effectively combat free radicals in test tubes, they are surprisingly weak in the human body.
The first antioxidant to be "exposed" was beta-carotene. In the early 1980s, the National Cancer Institute in the United States began testing the cancer-preventive effects of beta-carotene. In a trial that began in 1994, the institute recruited over 18,000 people at high risk of lung cancer due to smoking or asbestos exposure, and assigned about half of them to take beta-carotene plus Vitamin A.
The researchers had to terminate the trial 21 months early because they found that those taking the supplements had a 28% higher risk of developing lung cancer and a 17% higher overall mortality rate compared to the control group. Dr. Halivi said, "The results were shocking; instead of curing people, they caused harm."
Further experiments confirmed these findings. In May of last year, an expert panel convened by the National Institutes of Health concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend beta-carotene supplements for the general population, but there was strong evidence to suggest that smokers should avoid them.
In the early 1990s, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health completed two large-scale studies that brought Vitamin E into the spotlight. These studies involved over 127,000 participants and found that those with high dietary intake of Vitamin E had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
The first study followed over 87,000 female nurses for eight years and found that the 17,000+ who took more Vitamin E had 41% fewer cases of cardiovascular disease compared to the 17,000+ who took less. The second study, involving nearly 40,000 male healthcare professionals, reached similar conclusions.
The researchers' explanation seemed quite plausible. Evidence suggested that one cause of heart disease is free radicals damaging low-density lipoprotein (LDL, also known as bad cholesterol, which are small packages of lipids and proteins that transport fatty acids to cells via blood circulation). Experiments showed that adding Vitamin E to blood samples in test tubes enhanced LDL's resistance to oxidation, which might explain why Vitamin E could prevent heart disease.
Roland Stark, a biochemist at the University of New South Wales, said, "From a biochemical perspective, this reasoning was quite logical at the time."
Vitamin E thus became very popular. In 1990, almost no one took Vitamin E, but by 1999, about 23 million Americans were taking it daily.
Other researchers began large-scale studies on Vitamin E, but the results were mostly disappointing. The Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study found a positive effect: a 77% reduction in the incidence of non-fatal heart attacks, but many other studies found no protective effect from Vitamin E; one study even indicated that Vitamin E increased the risk of heart failure.
Other trials testing Vitamin E also proved that it could not prevent cancer or Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, scientists could not find evidence that Vitamin E protected LDL from oxidation in the human body (except in those who were deficient in Vitamin E).The function is misunderstood.
Boston Tufts University biochemist Anjiro Yagi points out that vitamin E has eight natural forms, all of which can act as antioxidants in test tubes, but the human body only absorbs one of them, alpha-tocopherol, which is taken up from the blood by a very specific protein in the liver. The other seven forms are mostly excreted. Yagi believes that human evolution would not have gone to such great lengths just to absorb antioxidants from the diet.
Vitamin E is an indispensable component of the diet, and a deficiency can lead to neurological diseases. However, whatever the function of vitamin E in the human body, it is definitely not an antioxidant.
Vitamin C's performance is equally disappointing. Halley says, "Many people continue to defend vitamin C, but unless it is for those who are deficient in this vitamin, it cannot inhibit the damage caused by free radicals." In fact, large-scale studies on American women's health have shown that vitamin C may accelerate atherosclerosis in some diabetic patients.
Among the antioxidants, polyphenols are less studied. Although polyphenols can also act as antioxidants in test tubes, it is uncertain how long they can stay in the blood. For example, flavonoids like resveratrol (the polyphenol found in red wine) are mostly quickly broken down and excreted from the body.
The conclusion of the research is becoming increasingly clear: regardless of the health effects of consuming large amounts of fruits and vegetables, taking pure chemical extracts or vitamin supplements does not achieve the same effect. Paul Curtis from the Dietary Supplements Division of the National Institutes of Health says, "Just because a pill contains a health-beneficial component found in food does not mean the pill is equally beneficial."
People whose diets are rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, polyphenols, and carotenoids do indeed have a lower risk of heart disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Some explain that this is because these people generally lead healthier lifestyles, but no one can assert the exact connection.
Experts' opinions are quite divided. Halley still firmly believes that antioxidants contribute somewhat to human health. He thinks that the polyphenols, carotenoids, and vitamins in fruits and vegetables, encased in tough, fibrous skins, can stay in the gastrointestinal tract longer, neutralizing free radicals produced from food; whereas supplements may be digested too quickly to have the same effect.
However, Andrew Shao from the Council for Responsible Nutrition in the U.S. questions the appropriateness of using clinical trials to test supplements: "Antioxidants are not drugs; the way nutrients work is fundamentally different from drugs, and they need to be combined to be effective."
Malcolm Jackson, a biochemist at the University of Liverpool, says, "Many people are rethinking the function of free radicals." He believes that free radicals, in the right amounts, could potentially enhance human health by promoting cells to produce enzymes like catalase and superoxide dismutase that combat free radicals. Jackson says, "Cells are good at resisting stress, but the stress should not be excessive. The question is: should we eradicate free radicals completely?"
If it turns out that the antioxidant components in food work because they produce an appropriate amount of free radicals, thereby promoting health; whereas supplements might produce too many free radicals due to high doses, harming health instead. This would be an ironic reversal of what was once believed.
Currently, the experts' advice is simple: "Eat more foods rich in flavonoids, drink more tea, eat more fruits and vegetables, and drink red wine in moderation. Until experts figure out the truth, avoid taking high-dose supplements or foods with added antioxidants."Source: http:/ / news. chinatimes. com/ C……+9603180181+174636+0,00. html
Shen Yaozi, 2007/03/19
From this incident, it can also be seen that so-called "modern medicine" is actually still very immature and quite underdeveloped. Grabbing a small link, it thinks it has grasped the whole world. How can such a thing bring true health to humanity? No wonder all chronic diseases require a lifetime of Western medicine to control symptoms...
The human body is constantly burning to produce energy and perform work. Burning is oxidation, and incomplete burning produces "toxic gases" (which are similar to free radicals). Antioxidants are anti-burning, but without burning, how can there be energy to perform work? No wonder taking too many antioxidant Western medicines can harm health. The issue lies in why the burning is incomplete, not in the exhaust. What doctors should do is restore the original complete burning, not continuously clear its exhaust.
Why can fruits and vegetables act as antioxidants? Because most of them belong to what traditional Chinese medicine calls cold and cool foods. Cold and cool foods can reduce the body's metabolism (burning, oxidation), reduce energy production, so it is not recommended to blindly eat fruits and vegetables, as the body constitution can become "cold-based" → afraid of cold, lack of spirit, lack of strength. Everything seeks balance, eat everything, eat what is in season, and naturally be healthy.
All vitamins and antioxidants are poisons, doing more harm than good, and they all disrupt the balance within the human body. More and more research is currently confirming this. (Actually, you don't need to eat them to know, reasoning can tell you there's a problem...)
The Myth of Antioxidants
By Lisa Melton
Cranberry capsules, green tea extract, effervescent vitamin C, pomegranate concentrate, betacarotene, selenium, grape seed extract, pine bark extract, vitamin E... We swallow these various products in large quantities as soon as we hear they contain antioxidants, believing they are beneficial for both preventing diseases and enhancing health.
But is this really the case? Evidence from the past few years suggests that antioxidant supplements offer little to no benefit to health; in fact, if taken in excessive doses, they might have the opposite effect, potentially turning disease prevention into disease causation.
It's not surprising that antioxidants have earned the title of "miracle supplements." Decades ago, scientists discovered a highly destructive chemical called free radicals, which are associated with the development of many diseases, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, cataracts, and arthritis.
Free radicals are unstable compounds containing unpaired electrons. To acquire the missing electrons, they oxidize other molecules (essentially causing them to "rust") to achieve balance. The oxidized molecules include proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and DNA. During the oxidation process, new free radicals are generated, leading to more damage.
Free radicals and other reactive oxygen species are byproducts of respiration. In other words, as long as a person is alive, reactive oxygen species are produced. Barry Halliwell, a biochemist at the National University of Singapore, says, "About one percent of the oxygen we absorb turns into reactive oxygen species. The human body produces about 1.7 kilograms of reactive oxygen species per year."
Exposure to X-rays, ozone, secondhand smoke, air pollutants, microorganisms, or industrial chemicals can generate free radicals, as can intense physical exercise.
In the 1980s, a potential weapon against free radicals emerged. Scientists have long known that people who consume large amounts of fruits and vegetables have lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and certain cancers—all diseases linked to free radical damage. We now know why: vegetables and fruits are rich in antioxidants, which neutralize free radicals, preventing them from oxidizing other molecules.
Halliwell, a pioneer in studying the relationship between free radicals and disease, says, "Scientists hypothesized that these antioxidants have protective effects. Consuming foods or supplements fortified with antioxidants could slow oxidative damage and reduce the risk of disease. Simply put: 'Free radicals are bad, antioxidants are good.'"
This concept has spawned a massive industry. According to the National Institutes of Health in the U.S., at least half of American adults take some form of nutritional supplement, with annual sales reaching $2.3 billion. It is estimated that the antioxidant market grew by 18% in 2005 alone.The most well-known antioxidants are Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and two major classes of phytochemicals: polyphenols (including flavonoids) and carotenoids (including beta-carotene and lycopene). Most nutritional supplements that claim to have antioxidant properties contain at least one of these antioxidants.
Since the early 1980s, scientists have used "double-blind randomized controlled trials" (where patients are randomly divided into treatment and control groups, and neither the patients nor the researchers know which group the patients are in, a standard method in medical research) to test antioxidants, but have failed to prove their efficacy: while they effectively combat free radicals in test tubes, they are surprisingly weak in the human body.
The first antioxidant to be "exposed" was beta-carotene. In the early 1980s, the National Cancer Institute in the United States began testing the cancer-preventive effects of beta-carotene. In a trial that began in 1994, the institute recruited over 18,000 people at high risk of lung cancer due to smoking or asbestos exposure, and assigned about half of them to take beta-carotene plus Vitamin A.
The researchers had to terminate the trial 21 months early because they found that those taking the supplements had a 28% higher risk of developing lung cancer and a 17% higher overall mortality rate compared to the control group. Dr. Halivi said, "The results were shocking; instead of curing people, they caused harm."
Further experiments confirmed these findings. In May of last year, an expert panel convened by the National Institutes of Health concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend beta-carotene supplements for the general population, but there was strong evidence to suggest that smokers should avoid them.
In the early 1990s, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health completed two large-scale studies that brought Vitamin E into the spotlight. These studies involved over 127,000 participants and found that those with high dietary intake of Vitamin E had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
The first study followed over 87,000 female nurses for eight years and found that the 17,000+ who took more Vitamin E had 41% fewer cases of cardiovascular disease compared to the 17,000+ who took less. The second study, involving nearly 40,000 male healthcare professionals, reached similar conclusions.
The researchers' explanation seemed quite plausible. Evidence suggested that one cause of heart disease is free radicals damaging low-density lipoprotein (LDL, also known as bad cholesterol, which are small packages of lipids and proteins that transport fatty acids to cells via blood circulation). Experiments showed that adding Vitamin E to blood samples in test tubes enhanced LDL's resistance to oxidation, which might explain why Vitamin E could prevent heart disease.
Roland Stark, a biochemist at the University of New South Wales, said, "From a biochemical perspective, this reasoning was quite logical at the time."
Vitamin E thus became very popular. In 1990, almost no one took Vitamin E, but by 1999, about 23 million Americans were taking it daily.
Other researchers began large-scale studies on Vitamin E, but the results were mostly disappointing. The Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study found a positive effect: a 77% reduction in the incidence of non-fatal heart attacks, but many other studies found no protective effect from Vitamin E; one study even indicated that Vitamin E increased the risk of heart failure.
Other trials testing Vitamin E also proved that it could not prevent cancer or Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, scientists could not find evidence that Vitamin E protected LDL from oxidation in the human body (except in those who were deficient in Vitamin E).The function is misunderstood.
Boston Tufts University biochemist Anjiro Yagi points out that vitamin E has eight natural forms, all of which can act as antioxidants in test tubes, but the human body only absorbs one of them, alpha-tocopherol, which is taken up from the blood by a very specific protein in the liver. The other seven forms are mostly excreted. Yagi believes that human evolution would not have gone to such great lengths just to absorb antioxidants from the diet.
Vitamin E is an indispensable component of the diet, and a deficiency can lead to neurological diseases. However, whatever the function of vitamin E in the human body, it is definitely not an antioxidant.
Vitamin C's performance is equally disappointing. Halley says, "Many people continue to defend vitamin C, but unless it is for those who are deficient in this vitamin, it cannot inhibit the damage caused by free radicals." In fact, large-scale studies on American women's health have shown that vitamin C may accelerate atherosclerosis in some diabetic patients.
Among the antioxidants, polyphenols are less studied. Although polyphenols can also act as antioxidants in test tubes, it is uncertain how long they can stay in the blood. For example, flavonoids like resveratrol (the polyphenol found in red wine) are mostly quickly broken down and excreted from the body.
The conclusion of the research is becoming increasingly clear: regardless of the health effects of consuming large amounts of fruits and vegetables, taking pure chemical extracts or vitamin supplements does not achieve the same effect. Paul Curtis from the Dietary Supplements Division of the National Institutes of Health says, "Just because a pill contains a health-beneficial component found in food does not mean the pill is equally beneficial."
People whose diets are rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, polyphenols, and carotenoids do indeed have a lower risk of heart disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Some explain that this is because these people generally lead healthier lifestyles, but no one can assert the exact connection.
Experts' opinions are quite divided. Halley still firmly believes that antioxidants contribute somewhat to human health. He thinks that the polyphenols, carotenoids, and vitamins in fruits and vegetables, encased in tough, fibrous skins, can stay in the gastrointestinal tract longer, neutralizing free radicals produced from food; whereas supplements may be digested too quickly to have the same effect.
However, Andrew Shao from the Council for Responsible Nutrition in the U.S. questions the appropriateness of using clinical trials to test supplements: "Antioxidants are not drugs; the way nutrients work is fundamentally different from drugs, and they need to be combined to be effective."
Malcolm Jackson, a biochemist at the University of Liverpool, says, "Many people are rethinking the function of free radicals." He believes that free radicals, in the right amounts, could potentially enhance human health by promoting cells to produce enzymes like catalase and superoxide dismutase that combat free radicals. Jackson says, "Cells are good at resisting stress, but the stress should not be excessive. The question is: should we eradicate free radicals completely?"
If it turns out that the antioxidant components in food work because they produce an appropriate amount of free radicals, thereby promoting health; whereas supplements might produce too many free radicals due to high doses, harming health instead. This would be an ironic reversal of what was once believed.
Currently, the experts' advice is simple: "Eat more foods rich in flavonoids, drink more tea, eat more fruits and vegetables, and drink red wine in moderation. Until experts figure out the truth, avoid taking high-dose supplements or foods with added antioxidants."Source: http:/ / news. chinatimes. com/ C……+9603180181+174636+0,00. html
Re: Antioxidant Myths
From this incident, it can also be seen that so-called "modern medicine" is actually still very immature and quite underdeveloped. Grabbing a small link, it thinks it has grasped the whole world. How can such a thing bring true health to humanity? No wonder all chronic diseases require a lifetime of Western medicine to control symptoms...
The human body is constantly burning to produce energy and perform work. Burning is oxidation, and incomplete burning produces "toxic gases" (which are similar to free radicals). Antioxidants are anti-burning, but without burning, how can there be energy to perform work? No wonder taking too many antioxidant Western medicines can harm health. The issue lies in why the burning is incomplete, not in the exhaust. What doctors should do is restore the original complete burning, not continuously clear its exhaust.
Why can fruits and vegetables act as antioxidants? Because most of them belong to what traditional Chinese medicine calls cold and cool foods. Cold and cool foods can reduce the body's metabolism (burning, oxidation), reduce energy production, so it is not recommended to blindly eat fruits and vegetables, as the body constitution can become "cold-based" → afraid of cold, lack of spirit, lack of strength. Everything seeks balance, eat everything, eat what is in season, and naturally be healthy.
All vitamins and antioxidants are poisons, doing more harm than good, and they all disrupt the balance within the human body. More and more research is currently confirming this. (Actually, you don't need to eat them to know, reasoning can tell you there's a problem...)
Shen Yaozi said, "The sun bakes the earth, dissipating all things."