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Study: Could those high-priced antioxidants actually be killing you?

December 11, 2020
by Stewart Lawrence

BEIJING — Fear of mortality is one reason Americans spend so much on “antioxidant” products, including Vitamin C supplements and beta-carotene, which promise a longer healthier life. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than half of adults in the U.S. consume some kind of antioxidant product, spending $37 billion each year.

But a study conducted in China – where aging is akin to a national obsession these days – claims that antioxidants don’t work as billed. The study is published in the journal Redox Biology.

Rather than extending longevity, researchers say they trigger a stress reaction which causes the body to age more rapidly.

In other words, those expensive life-enhancers may actually be killing you.

Researchers discovered the relationship by studying how oxidants affected worms and human cells at various stages of development.  Oxidants, it turned out, had no measurable impact on aging.

But introducing antioxidants disturbed the mechanism in cells that resists aging and as a result, the cells began aging more rapidly — “unnaturally fast,” said Chen Chang, the lead scientist on the project at the Institute of Biophysics, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

Chang and her team are especially concerned about their findings because of the widespread use of antioxidants among Chinese youth. “More and more ‘white collar workers’ in their 20s are taking pills containing antioxidants such as Vitamin C and tea polyphenols. They must stop,” Chang told the South China Morning Post.

But older people are also more likely to die faster due to supplements, they found. Chang recommended that antioxidant use in China and elsewhere be curtailed.

The Chinese study appears to confirm the results of a 2008 “meta-review” of 405 studies comparing the longevity of people that consumed various kinds of vitamin supplements with those that took only a placebo. That review, conducted by top medical researchers in Denmark, found no significant differences in the mortality rates of the two groups.

So far, none of these new studies has put a dent in the multi-billion dollar vitamin and supplement industry, which continues to promote the presumed anti-aging benefits of its products.

And there is little evidence that consumers are paying attention, either – or if they are, that they care.

But the evidence against antioxidants is mounting.

Another medical study conducted last year found that overuse of Vitamin D supplements was associated with a higher risk of falls in men and in women 70 years and older.

Apparently, Nature is sending a message: Stop trying to reset your biological clock.

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Comments

  1. I wouldn’t trust ANYTHING that comes out of China, especially a study regarding health and longevity.

    1. Exactly, they care about health supplements, but not the terrible smog they breath in everyday.

  2. I suspect Big Pharma had a hand in drafting this article… The red herring was the Jan 2016 vitamin D study by Bischoff-Ferrari that found a greater number of falls among men and women 70 and older who took more than 24,000 IU of vitamin D3 a month…

    Hello… The reason for the increased number of falls was likely due to people that age feeling so much better taking more vitamin D3, they became more physically active… What’s not to like about that! What the Bischoff-Ferrari study didn’t say was the incident of broken bones was less for this same cohort. Hmmm…

    Getting back to the 24,000 iU/month vitamin D3… That’s roughly 900 IU/day. If the average adult with fair skin color went out in the mid-day summer sun clad in a Speedo without sunblock, the UV B in direct sunlight would strike molecules of 7-Dehydrocholesterol in the skin and generate 15,000 IU of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) in as little as 15 minutes… Hmmm…. That’s 450,000 IU of Vitamin D3 if we did that daily for a month… Unfortunately, most of us haven’t done that since we were kids… and as a result, 50% to 70% of adults are vitamin D3 deficient.

    If you want to see the health benefits of Vitamin D3 and proof it works to treat or prevent 78 health conditions, check out the following VitaminDWiki link: http://www.vitamindwiki.com/Proof+that+Vitamin+D+Works

    Of course Big Pharma doesn’t want you to know this… or the fact that 12 cents a day (10,000 IU/day vitamin D3) is more effective than $5,000/treatment with a monoclonal antibody…. Check out the following link for additional proof…

    http://www.vitamindwiki.com/Interview+of+Dr.+Coimbra+-+Vitamin+D+protocol+for+Autoimmune+diseases+%E2%80%93+2016

  3. If you are consuming anything that came from, or was manufactured in, China, then you obviously do not care one bit about your health. Antioxidants are meant to give you energy. If you don’t feel like going to the market to get proper food then your precious antioxidant pills from China are certainly not working. Either that or you are just plain lazy.
    Here is a great website I have been following lately. This guy takes the time and effort to actually teach people become healthier, instead of blindly taking pills and prescriptions. His name is Dr. Joshua Axe. You can find him at http://www.draxe.com

  6. Everything is bad for you and good for you. Much to do about nothing. Bottom line is eat healthy and exercise. I take Milk Thistle maybe once a month for liver health, a multivitamin when I can remember, and fish oil may three times a month.

  9. The only major set-back I have had in my relatively healthy life, is the permanent damage that was done to my muscles (isn’t the heart your largest muscle?) by statin drugs. Memory loss, global amnesia while driving my car, tendon damage while doing my regular yoga class, and muscle damage to my thighs so I can no longer use an elyptical machine or bicycle. 1% chance of avoiding a heart attack if taken for five or more years in middle aged men who have had a previous heart event, (no help to any woman, except possibly the anti-inflammatory property) up to 30% chance of damage, often permanent. Who thought this was a good idea?

    1. drug companies….i have high cholesterol but refuse to ever take Lipitor or any of that garbage……

      1. New thinking is that cholesterol isn’t the problem… sugar and nutritional deficiencies are more problemtic.

    2. Good on you… I see Space Doc in your story… I agree… Statins are BAD… Very BAD… Cholesterol does not cause heart disease… It’s sugar… only Big Pharma and Big Agra (sugar) have made cholesterol the scapegoat.

      1. Dr. Graveline showed me the way. His life was such an inspiration to so many people, and without his knowledge, I would still not know what was happening to my body and may have continued to take that poison. I sure miss his insights and wish he were still with us. You are so right about our need for cholesterol and the damage done by sugar! Thanks for posting that.

  10. What a crock. This quack probably did either an in-vitro study of cells and exposed them to antioxidant levels way beyond what any person would ever consume … or did a “literature” study of other research and piecemealed them together like Frakenstien. I wouldn’t wipe my hinder with this kook’s findings.

  11. Taking supplements is a lot like believing the LSM these days. If there isn’t any proof, don’t believe it. Big pharm are huge thieves. But so are most unregulated supplement companies. I don’t know about this particular study, but many so-called “health” enhancing supplements have been proven to be unhealthy. And that’s a fact.

    2. There’s a big difference between “Health Supplements” and USP vitamin and minerals… Particularly if they carry the USP logo… That’s the Gold Standard.

  12. The one real truth is that all these supplements will kill your wallet before they kill you.

    1. A long-standing, pervasive bias exists against use of vitamin D3 at pharmacological doses for non-skeletal medical conditions/diseases… Follow the money… Who benefits if people are fooled into believing vitamins and minerals are bad for us?

  14. My doctor told me smoking was bad for my health so I quit smoking. My doctor told me eating cheeseburgers was bad for my health so I stopped eating cheeseburgers. My doctor told me sex was bad for my health so I started smoking and eating cheeseburgers.

  16. Once I started taking C, E and others regularly, I never catch a cold or get the flu. The one time I was foolish enough to get a flu shot, you guessed it, I got the flu When ever the wife of kids start to feel symptoms they always ask for my vitamins. Symptoms are gone in a day. This is all anecdotal of course, but they work for me and my family.

      2. The mature multi picks up the other essential vitamin D3 cofactors: zinc, boron and vitamin A (Retinol)

  17. SO “Big Pharma” would benefit financially from convincing pro vitamin people to NOT take vitamins? So THAT WAY everyone gets cancer, scurvy, placid reproductive organs, bad breath, etc and THEN THEY make TRILLIONS in decades …because that is how long it MIGHT take due to the vitamins and minerals we get in food…. they make TRILLIONS selling “unnecessary” meds to the zombie horde? Here’s a theory…the article was written by the Bavarian Bankers in concert with Illuminati to push people TOWARD vitamin purchases to drive the population DOWN to a manageable 500m. Whhhhhat? Yeah. Because “Big Pharma” has secretly used all that $$$ to buy vitamin companies and have been using questionable ingredients like cyanide, toe nails, sawdust and….and….PEOPLE!!!! Noooooo!!! Soylant Green Vitamins. Num num!

      2. A bit after my time… I flew CAS missions in I Corps in support of 1st and 3rd MARDIV units North and East of Dong Ha, South Vietnam, circa ’71 and ’72 flying F-8 Crusaders off USS Hancock (CVA-19) Thank you for your Service.

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