Antioxidants aren’t just another short-lived nutrition fad. They’ve been a media darling since the early 1990s, when scientists began to identify their potential benefits for protection against heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. They’re one of the most popular nutrition buzzwords planted on food packages – everything from cereal and fruit gummies to energy shots and chocolate bars. But the truth is, despite decades of research, we still understand very little about what antioxidants can and can’t do for our health.
Here’s what we do know:
Antioxidants are a diverse group of compounds found in food. There are hundreds if not thousands of different antioxidants, and just like snowflakes, each one is unique. Some of these compounds are very familiar (vitamin C and beta-carotene), while others haven’t yet emerged from the pages of scientific journals (ever heard of myricetin or petunidin?). Each antioxidant plays its own role in your body’s orchestrated biological dance, so overdosing on one doesn’t compensate for a dearth of others. And while a few antioxidants, like vitamin E and selenium, are also vitamins or minerals and therefore required in small quantities to sustain life, the vast majority are not essential. You don’t need them to stay alive.
The Limits of Antioxidant Research
Countless studies have shown that people who consume higher amounts of specific antioxidants in their diet have a lower risk of developing a number of diseases. For example, high lycopene intake is associated with lower risk of prostate cancer; high intake of anthocyanins (found in blue-, purple-, and red-hued produce) has been linked to lower risk of heart attack. These are the types of studies that have given antioxidants their nutritional claim to fame. But there’s a major, major caveat. People who shower their body with antioxidants from food are likely eating a very healthy diet; after all, antioxidants are primarily found in fruits, vegetables, and other generally beneficial plant foods. These high antioxidant-eaters are also likely to be habitual exercisers and non-smokers and regularly see doctors for check-ups. They’re just healthier people, and these types of studies can’t prove that antioxidants cause biological changes that reduce the risk for disease. They’re just clues in the big antioxidant puzzle.
This is where clinical trials come in. To see if particular antioxidants can actually cause a reduced risk of cancer, heart disease, or stroke, researchers give groups of people supplements of one (or more) isolated antioxidant and observe them for several years to see if they’re less likely to develop the disease under study. Many high-quality studies involving hundreds of thousands of people have examined whether vitamin C, beta carotene, vitamin E, selenium, and other antioxidant supplements actually reduce the risk of disease, and the vast majority have come up negative. With a few notable exceptions, studies have found that antioxidant supplements do not reduce the risk for heart disease, cancer, or other common diseases. In fact, a few studies have even found that antioxidant supplements increase the risk for certain diseases (for example, beta carotene supplements have been shown to increase the risk of lung disease in smokers).
The Take-Away
These findings don’t mean you should ignore antioxidants completely. But they do tell you that supplements are not the answer. Many scientists believe that your body responds differently to the antioxidants naturally present in foods compared to the purified, high-dose antioxidants found in supplements. It’s unlikely that just one isolated antioxidant in pill form has the same nutritional power as the diverse mix of hundreds of molecules found naturally in a single vegetable or fruit.
Let me step waaaay out of my league here with a football reference. We can liken a single, well-known antioxidant – like lutein in spinach or lycopene in tomatoes – to a star quarterback. He’s got a lot of talent, but throw him on a team with a bunch of third-stringers and you won’t end up with a Super Bowl-bound team. Antioxidants function the same way – on their own, it’s unlikely that they have the same health-boosting properties as when they’re combined (in the right amounts) with a supporting cast of dozens of other valuable compounds.
So, the best source of antioxidants is REAL, WHOLE FOOD, particularly the healthy foods you enjoy eating on a regular basis. There’s no need to seek out antioxidant superfoods…or ignore veggies and fruits like zucchini and bananas that aren’t bursting with color or the antioxidant du jour. Building your meals with a variety of plant foods, including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds, will ensure you’re eating the entire spectrum of antioxidants – including those we haven’t identified yet – along with everything else food has to offer. You’ll be covered no matter what amazing discoveries the next few decades bring.
