Researchers give antioxidants an “F”

Since we have only been discussing research that touts the benefits of antioxidants, I thought it would be nice to get a second opinion. I began searching for articles and found one on the Discovery Channel website titled “Antioxidants flunk big test.” This article summarizes a 2007 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association titled “Mortality in Randomized Trials of Antioxidant Supplements for Primary and Secondary Prevention: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.” The article also includes commentary on this study from other scientists in the field of nutrition. Despite the skepticism surrounding this study, it is of some merit. With millions of people worldwide spending billions each year on antioxidant supplements, it is worthwhile to determine the effectiveness of these products.

Article Summary

In 2007, a research group at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark analyzed dozens of studies looking at antioxidant supplement intake and mortality. After looking at 68 studies, the group found no evidence that taking antioxidant supplements affects mortality positively or negatively. The group took their analysis a step further by eliminating “lower-quality” studies and found that people taking antioxidant supplements actually had a higher risk of death. Some experts, like Meir Stampfer (a nutrition and epidemiology professor at Harvard) are wary of the conclusions drawn from this study. Stampfer feels that the studies analyzed were too diverse to be grouped together. Also, the causes of death were not detailed in many of the analyzed studies. Furthermore, the Copenhagen researchers cannot provide any explanation for the “alleged increase in mortality.”

Here’s a link to the Discovery Channel article, and you can find the research group’s article on PubMed.