Staying Healthy
Wednesday 28th February, 2007 14:18 Comments: 0
I'm doing my bit, trying to stay healthy by avoiding vitamin pills. It seems that vitamin pills taken to fight disease may actually increase the risk of death! It has previously been alleged they helped protect against heart disease and cancer, but scientists in Copenhagen said the antioxidants "significantly increase mortality".
Critics said the finding was based largely on studies of people who were already chronically ill before they were treated with supplements. The study related only to synthetic supplements and not to fruits and vegetables, which are natural and contain less concentrated levels of antioxidants. Researchers did not pinpoint any biochemical mechanism that may be behind the increased death risk. But it may be that "by eliminating free radicals from our organism, we interfere with some essential defensive mechanisms," the study concluded.
Antioxidants are believed to fight free radicals - atoms or groups of atoms formed in such a way that they can cause cell damage. The report said people taking Beta carotene and vitamins A and E had a 5% higher death risk than those not using them. It also found no evidence that vitamin C increases longevity. Although selenium tended to reduce mortality, more research is needed on that topic.
Critics said the finding was based largely on studies of people who were already chronically ill before they were treated with supplements. The study related only to synthetic supplements and not to fruits and vegetables, which are natural and contain less concentrated levels of antioxidants. Researchers did not pinpoint any biochemical mechanism that may be behind the increased death risk. But it may be that "by eliminating free radicals from our organism, we interfere with some essential defensive mechanisms," the study concluded.
Antioxidants are believed to fight free radicals - atoms or groups of atoms formed in such a way that they can cause cell damage. The report said people taking Beta carotene and vitamins A and E had a 5% higher death risk than those not using them. It also found no evidence that vitamin C increases longevity. Although selenium tended to reduce mortality, more research is needed on that topic.