Antioxidants hit by pessimistic report.

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Antioxidants hit by pessimistic report.

A Cochrane Collaboration team has concluded that commonly taken antioxidant

supplements may do more harm than good. Their review encompassed 68

randomized controlled trials with 232,606 participants who took various

combinations of beta carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and/or

selenium or a placebo or had no intervention.

[bjelakovic G and others. Mortality in randomized trials of antioxidant

supplements for primary and secondary prevention:

Systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA 97:842-857, 2007] HYPERLINK

" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=A

bstractPlus & list_uids=17327526 & query_hl=5 & itool=pubmed_docsum " http://www.ncb

i.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=AbstractPlus & lis

t_uids=17327526 & query_hl=5 & itool=pubmed_docsum

The reviewers concluded:

**There was no convincing evidence that antioxidant supplements have

beneficial effects on overall death rate.

**In 47 trials with 180,938 participants, the antioxidant supplements

significantly increased the death rate.

**Beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E given singly or combined with

other antioxidant supplements significantly increase mortality

**The potential roles of vitamin C and selenium on mortality need further

study.

**Considering that 10% to 20% of the adult population in North America and

Europe may consume the assessed supplements, the public health consequences

may be substantial.

**Because the study examined only the influence of synthetic antioxidants,

its findings should not be applied to the potential effects of eating fruits

and vegetables.

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