The Antioxidant Debate There's no question that antioxidants help reduce your risk of a whole lot of health problems, protecting you from things like cancer, heart disease, and blindness. The debate doesn't revolve around the effectiveness of antioxidants...just around their supplement forms. Here's the million dollar question: Can antioxidant extracts, like the ones in supplements, offer the same benefits as the ones that naturally occur in foods? A British scientist from the Novartis Foundation says the answer is often "no," and that antioxidant supplements may even do some harm. Of course, many scientists don't agree with that assessment, and some argue that testing supplements the same way we test drugs (as isolated substances in clinical trials) is inappropriate. Their point: Do more trials, but do them the right way, designed to truly measure the benefits of supplements. No one has the right study design down pat yet, but they are working on it. The first step might be to stop testing supplements only on already critically ill patients. Supplements are not medications created to treat specific symptoms (though many of them work with specific bodily functions). Trials like those put antioxidants in an unreasonable and unrealistic position -- that of miracle worker -- then slam them as ineffective when they don't produce a magical cure. The new generation of antioxidant trials should look toward prevention, testing how supplementation in healthy participants reduces their risk of ever developing life-threatening ailments. Now, the questions being asked practically guarantee failure. Instead of looking into whether vitamin E added to a drug cocktail of statins and beta-blockers to reduce the risk of repeat heart attacks, researchers should be trying to learn whether long-term supplementation of vitamin E can prevent the first heart attack from ever happening. The one thing that everyone agrees on is that antioxidants derived from food sources really do lower the risk of several deadly diseases. Some research indicates that the antioxidant combos found in foods work together, making the whole health benefit stronger than the individual components. And dozens of population studies confirm that eating diets high in antioxidants -- particularly diets chock full of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables -- face a much lower risk of developing diabetes, suffering heart attacks, and getting cancer. Our take: We have no doubt that antioxidants are beneficial, even crucial for optimal health. Getting them through foods and supplements will help you enjoy better health and protection from any number of life-threatening diseases. | 
