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

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.

Editor’s Note: StudyFinds.org does not agree, nor disagree with the studies we post on this site. Our goal is to provide you with the latest results of professional studies and leave it to our readers to debate and explain their positions on these findings.

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Comments

  1. I thought the body naturally controlled the amount of vit.C and that our bodies would naturally expel any excess,…anyone out there with any information about this,..cuz I take up to 3000 IU a day,..and I thought that was good for me,..perhaps I am wrong?

    1. Double Nobel Prise Lauréat Dr. Linus Pauling was the one, who discovered the power of big dosage of vitamin C. He was attacked by pharma-lobby, interested in big money, but definitely not in simple, effective & cheap solutions.
      Dr. Pauling lived till 93, drinking up till 30 gram of Vitamin C per day.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXiUcU3rz3s

  2. the only anti oxidant i use is mega hydrate ….it is totally safe it was developed by Dr. Patrick Flanagan. a demonstration by actual doctors is available on YOU TUBE

      1. I don’t sell any thing just trying to help people .
        thats what i do…and i study law ,computers, human behavior k9 training law the constitution, auto mechanics construction, biology ,politics, bleeding edge physics, self defense ,gold mining ,oil drilling, agriculture ,electronics,race car driving,sniper training.ect. ect. ect. got a 185 IQ and a million ways to destroy evil assholes. and my ancestry would blow you mind . how many people do you know has there name on the frikin moon.?
        how many have you helped? get a real job indeed.
        I work for my creator . what is your purpose division or hate . I’m waiting to be trolled so i can DOX you.

      2. Ephesians 5:3-6
        3 Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, 4 no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving. 5 Be
        sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an
        idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
        6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.

  3. I’m going to take more and hope in another 15 years that it’s all wrong. Oh wait…

    Here’s one truth, those horse pills will kill you when you choke to death on them.

  4. Man will always try to play God, but it is always God who will decide how long our lives are to be. Rebellion of man, fallen angels, through our technology we will always try to defeat God, prove we don’t need our creator, right up until the world is destroyed and created new.

  5. ehh…Which anti-oxidants besides the necessary vitamins C, and D.

    Another vapid article filled with 0 information.

  6. This seems timely considering they are trying to stop the use of high dose vitamin C given IV in hospitals to combat cancer. Also not a coincidence coming from China, the land of censorship.These supplements must really make Big Pharma nervous.

  7. On the other hand, in populations with vitamin & mineral deficiencies, basic supplements do improve overall health.

    1. If you are not eating FARM FOOD from your backyard farm, your food is EMPTY.

    1. LIFE EXTENSION FOUNDATION

      Long before InfoWars ever thought of selling stuff.

  8. I am pretty skeptical about this, esp since there appear to have been no clinical trials. As well, high-potency supplements are generally not available in China. You can get 5 mg of vitamin C, but nothing much stronger. Many Chinese die of heart disease, which Linus Pauling found to be a unique and advanced form of scurvy – so a gram per day of buffered ascorbate might save some lives. Anyhow i don’t believe the above report for one minute.

  9. And how about those statin drugs…whose major effect is anti-inflammatory in nature (their cholesterol-lowering claims were challenged and discredited years (actually, decades) ago. They earn $100 billion YEARLY! So money spent is more than double that quoted.

    1. Current statins do reduce abnormally high cholesterol levels,
      but More importantly statins damage muscle tissue and our
      heart is a muscle. If on statins, need to take CoQ10 to protect
      muscles. Speak with your doctors about dosage. Do not just
      stop taking.

    2. Statins DO reduce cholesterol. The WRONG KIND.

      There is one major organ in the body that is almost 100% cholesterol… statins remove stores of cholesterol quite efficiently from this organ. That organ is THE BRAIN.

  10. ” A study in Red China? ”
    Red China where ‘Quality Assurance’ is non-existent and products containing
    poisons have harmed/killed consumers in America. Remember? Pet food and
    toothpaste to name a couple. China’s response was to ‘execute’ the minister
    of trade or similar title!
    Google products made in the USA. Skip 3rd world countries.


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