Research Reviews’ Results
- If you are healthy, and have a modern balanced diet, taking multi-vitamins and high-dose antioxidants may shorten your life.
- There’s no evidence to support antioxidant supplements for primary or secondary prevention of diseases.
- Beta-carotene and vitamin E seem to increase mortality, and so may higher doses of vitamin A.
- Antioxidant supplements need to be considered as medicinal products and should undergo sufficient evaluation before marketing.
- The functions of minerals and vitamins are understood largely by their deficiency diseases so there’s no certainty what they all do or how they interact.
- Antioxidants soak up toxic, chemically-reactive by-products of metabolism called free radicals. These free radicals, left unchecked, can cause damage to DNA and may be linked to cancer.
- Your body's immune system fights infections by using free radicals to kill bugs. Several of the minerals and vitamins in excess can cause damage.
Health
