Benefits of some supplements negated by study
Last Updated Aug 2007
The health-food industry has been founded on one basic premise: If you take anti-
oxidants in a pill, you will live longer. Now comes a long-term study from Harvard
Medical School that says don't count on it. An article published in the Archives of
Internal Medicine (Volume 167 pp 1610-1618) last week was about more than 8,000 high-
risk women (they had already had a stroke, heart attack, or several risk factors)
who were followed for more than nine years and took Vitamin E, Vitamin C, or beta-
carotene either singularly or in combination. The outcome was that these vitamins
had no benefits in preventing a heart attack. The response of the health food
industry lobby was "at least they didn't kill anyone". Yet at the same time we know
that people who eat higher amounts of fruits and vegetables are protected against
heart attacks. Why the disconnect?
People tend to forget that the chemicals that give fruits and vegetables their color
are called polyphenols. They are not vitamins, but in high enough concentrations,
they are anti-inflammatory agents that inhibit the activation of the cell's
inflammatory response. Since it is inflammation, not oxidation that drives heart
disease, without adequate polyphenols in the diet you are not going to see a lot of
benefits. Furthermore, polyphenols are so complicated in structure that you can't
synthesize them as you can Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and beta-carotene. This means they
are usually too costly for the health-food industry.
So how do you get enough polyphenols? First follow the Zone Diet since it is rich
in fruits and vegetables (they have the color) and ease off on the grains and
starches (they don't have color and hence no polyphenols). The second is to augment
your diet with extra polyphenols as a supplement. Finally, take adequate levels of
EPA and DHA as nature's ultimate anti-inflammatory. This is how you reduce the risk
of heart disease.