No evidence antioxidants are a "miracle" food

[Nicest of the Damned]

http://www.slate.com/id/2300578/

There's actually no evidence that antioxidants have beneficial effects in humans. Even more reason to believe that you have no business worrying about antioxidants when you're 50 pounds overweight.

[Blithe Morning]

If you're worried about antioxidants, you don't have enough real problems.

[Graham]

Strange article: I could swear I'd read evidence-based studies detailing the benefits of regular pomegranate juice drinking for furred-up arteries. And some antioxidants are vitamins - and, as their name suggests, supposedly vital for life to continue.

Perhaps the author is talking about antioxidant supplements? One got a bad report - supplemental vitamin A, I think - but vitamin C still gets favourable treatment in some quarters - provided you use an effective dose. Some of the critical studies cited as evidence against the effectiveness of vitamin C simply used far too little to generate a useful effect.

When we look at long-lived populations we find many eating diets high in foods considered antioxidant rich. I think this author has made sweeping statements, till there's more evidence behind what he says, I won't be throwing my vitamins, minerals and fish oil away.

[wosnes]

I think nutritional science is still so unknown that most of what we read is speculation -- speculation with studies trying to prove whatever.

There was a time when I believed in the "superfoods" until I realized that no one, any where, except modern-day affluent societies had tried to include them all in their diets.

[Over43]

I have thought this for years. I do take the most minimalist/least expensive vitmain I can find on the shelf, and do catch heck from people for not loading up on megavitamins.

I hope this study mushrooms and I can eventually stop hearing about "antioxidants" in every food advertisement on television.

[Nicest of the Damned]

I hope... I can eventually stop hearing about "antioxidants" in every food advertisement on television.

You will, eventually, when they move on to the next pseudoscientific food fad. I'll reveal my age here, and say that I remember when it was oat bran in everything.

[Over43]

I remember the oatbran craze. I can't wait for the next big "thing". They are even advertising antioxidants in pet foods.

[oolala53]

Makes me think of the very sweet but quite overweight young woman I met this weekend who pooh-poohed Costco roasted chickens because they are injected with sugar, somehow. All I could think was that the sugar in Costco chickens was probably the least of her worries...

[reinhard]

I think Woody Allan has the authoritative word on this subject:

From Sleeper, 1973:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070707/quotes

Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.

[leafy_greens]

http://www.slate.com/id/2300578/

There's actually no evidence that antioxidants have beneficial effects in humans. Even more reason to believe that you have no business worrying about antioxidants when you're 50 pounds overweight.

One of my favorite quotes from the book...

There was a time when I believed in the "superfoods" until I realized that no one, any where, except modern-day affluent societies had tried to include them all in their diets.

But it's the poorer societies that have those magical superfoods growing in abundance (such as some miracle desert tree) so they don't have to pay to have them shipped in like the affluent societies! The poorer societies' diets are naturally full of superfoods (supposedly.)

Actually there is a point to this concept - which is the affluent societies process and package their foods until they are no longer recognizable. Then we have to have superfoods to make up for the processing of our perfectly normal healthy foods. Just more guilt and self-flagellation, I suppose.