The Truth About Antioxidants
August 22, 2011, By Josh Katzowitz 3 comments
According to the National Cancer Institute’s website, “considerable laboratory evidence from chemical, cell culture and animal studies indicates that antioxidants may slow or possibly prevent the development of cancer. However, information from recent clinical trials is less clear. In recent years, large-scale, randomized clinical trials reached inconsistent conclusions.”
That’s not answering anybody’s questions, is it? And that’s the main problem when discussing antioxidant supplements. We know they’re probably good for us, but we’re not sure how much we should be ingesting and for what reason.
Instead, here’s an idea:
What you should be doing is worrying less about what pills you take, about buying those supposedly miraculous all-in-one packages from the grocery store’s health-food aisle. Instead, actually eat healthy food. The blueberries, the green tea, the cocoa powder—all of it. As Richard Veech, a scientist at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, told a Livescience.com columnist, it’s not as easy as simply swallowing a supplement. You actually have to do some work on your own. There’s a reason, after all, they’re called “supplements.”
Josh Katzowitz lives in Atlanta and covers the NFL for CBSSports.com. He is a featured contributor to ManoftheHouse.com and author of the book, Bearcats Rising. He's currently working on a book about pro football that is scheduled to be released in 2012.
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