Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Folks,

So, I took the most recent issue of Scientific American on the plane to Australia with me, which means I read the darned thing cover-to-cover. And the most interesting article in there (more so, even, than the one about Yet Another Hominid Species) as one which covered a medical study indicating that Anti-Oxidants May Kill You.

Sadly, I can't find a link to the actual study online (or, actually, a pair of studies). This Men's Health article cites one of them, but doesn't provide a link: http://news.menshealth.com/the-truth-ab ... 012/04/09/

Anyway, there were two studies. One was a labratory mice study, which showed that far from being a major cause of ageing, "free radicals" have some not-yet-understood benefit for cellular healing, and that elevating levels of free radicals in the blood, on average, caused mice to live longer. The second study was a study of smokers, diet, and mortality, and found that smokers who took vitamin A and E suppliments on average died sooner than smokers who didn't.

Not conclusive yet, of course, but certainly enough to make you look at that multivitamin tablet with some suspicion.

Here is another article on vitamin E and prostate cancer. This sturdy may be the one I remember from years ago, when selenium supplements were found to cause increased cases of type 2 diabetes, and the study was stopped before it was finished. When they followed up on the men, even though they had stopped the vitamin E supplements, the increase in prostate cancer was significantly higher overall, than ones who never took it.

Convinced it would be good for me, I starting taking vitamin/herbal supplements many years ago and developed a pronounced stutter after 3 days on the regimen (just regular multi-vitamins with ginkgo and ginseng). The stutter did not resolve and after another few days, I stopped taking the vitamins. The stutter disappeared after several more days. Since nothing else in my diet or environment changed, I can only assume that one of the vitamins or herbs caused the stutter. I've never taken a multi-vitamin since. I do take vitamin C when I have a cold, but that's it.

I have also read that Vitamin A in high doses is linked to a few forms of cancer. It seems you just can't win!

I may down a vitamin pill if I've gone most of a week without much veg, but that's it.

The antioxidant research has always struck me as being a little too derived; the conclusions are a looong way from the experiment and study. Of course, this does not make it incorrect, but certainly allows for a lot more confounding factors.

It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

I'm not a supplement user; I try to avoid reductionist approaches to nutrition.

Even port reductions

Darcie,

Actually, gingko is toxic; that's more likely to be the cause of your issues than anything else in the supplement. Or even an ingredient not listed; the kind of supplements that include gingko seldom accurately publish their full list of ingredients. Alternately, ginseng is a powerful stimulant, which can also cause issues if you turn out to sensitive to it. I'm frequently dismayed at how casually substances which are powerful or downright poisonous are thrown into dietary supplements.

Paul,

I blame it on The Juice Man. Did you have him in Canada?

Fuzzy, that's why I mentioned those ingredients. However, I've also felt unwell after taking "normal" multivitamins, minus the stutter.

Darcie,

Huh. Doctor say anything?

Ugh. This takes me back to researching prenatal vitamins, not to mention taking the darned things. I take vitamin D now, on the recommendation of my doctor, when I remember it.