Despite modern medical care rapidly developing, heart diseases and cancer still remain dangerous illnesses which can be fatal and are cannot yet be reliably treated. Antioxidants are natural or synthetic molecules which include enzymatic and nonenzymatic compounds (Norris, 2019). They are a group of nutritional elements which protect against damage caused by free radicals (Kolarzyk et al., 2018). Some of antioxidants are more widely known as vitamins E, C, and carotenoids, and have a reputation of preventing cardiovascular diseases and cancer (Luo et al., 2021). As these vitamins are present in many different fruits and vegetables, they are a common part of many standard diets (Kolarzyk et al., 2018). Thus, antioxidants have a significant role in modern healthcare if they truly help prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease, with them being widespread being their further advantage.
The role of antioxidants is not quite undoubted. Studies show that vitamin C, vitamin E, and total carotenoids indeed have an inverse association with disease and mortality (Aune et al., 2018). However, controlled trials have demonstrated that antioxidant supplementation is ineffective for preventing diseases (Kolarzyk et al., 2018). On the contrary, in some cases vitamin E and β-carotene supplements have caused an increased chance of lung cancer (Aune et al., 2018). There is therefore a discrepancy in antioxidants’ effectiveness in different circumstances.
Researches offer many possible explanations for the reasons of the differences in supplements’ influence. For example, Aune et al. (2018) claim that this is due to dietary sources of antioxidants containing many bioactive compounds which all have reactions, changing each other and influencing the antioxidants. Supplements do not have these components, therefore lacking the beneficial reactions. Other components of fruits which are likely to be influencing health outcomes are fiber, which has beneficial influence on blood cholesterol, phytochemicals, and flavonoids, which reduces risk of cardiovascular disease (Aune, 2019). A different factor is that food is often cooked, further changing its components and their connection. Thus, antioxidants are not helpful for health by themselves, but as part of fruits and vegetables, which include many other components.
The presence of components other than antioxidants in fruits is not the only possible explanation for the different degree of effectiveness in supplements. Aune et al. (2018) have yet another theory as well, namely that supplemental antioxidants deplete due to the body reacting to them by having oxidative stress of inflammation. While antioxidant supplements beneficially influence undernourished populations, the benefit decreases over time, and is completely absent if well-nourished populations (Aune, 2019). Finally, Luo et al. (2021) add that dosage, timing, and duration of use are important as well. However, while these theories deserve attention, they are not as solid as the reasoning that fruits have beneficial components other than antioxidants.
If someone decides to take antioxidant supplements as ‘health insurance’, it would be better for them to abstain from the idea and form a diet based on fruits and vegetables instead. As described above, antioxidants are only effective in conjunction with other natural components of fruits and vegetables, with their supplement variant only being useful to malnourished population. Thus, it would be better to form a diet; Aune (2019) offers to increase fruit and vegetable intake more than the recommended 5-a-day up to an intake of 800 g/d, as well as simultaneously increasing intake of grains to 225 g/d and of nuts to 15–20 g/d. Thus, supplements are much less effective as a ‘health insurance’ and are not advised to be used as such.
References
Aune, D. (2019). Plant Foods, antioxidant biomarkers, and the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality: A review of the evidence.Advances in Nutrition, 10(Supplement_4).
Aune, D., Keum, N. N., Giovannucci, E., Fadnes, L. T., Boffetta, P., Greenwood, D. C., Tonstad, S., Vatten, L. J., Riboli, E., & Norat, T. (2018). Dietary intake and blood concentrations of antioxidants and the risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer, and all-cause mortality: A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies.The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 108(5), 1069–1091.
Kolarzyk, E., Skop-Lewandowska, A., Jaworska, J., Ostachowska-Gąsior, A., & Krzeszowska-Rosiek, T. (2018). Dietary intake of antioxidants and fats in the context of coronary heart disease prevention among elderly people.Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine, 25(1), 131–136.
Luo, J., le Cessie, S., van Heemst, D., & Noordam, R. (2021). Diet-derived circulating antioxidants and risk of coronary heart disease.Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 77(1), 45–54.
Norris, T. L. (2019). Porth’s essentials of pathophysiology (5th ed.). LWW.