Antioxidants Miracle Drugs?

Health supplements that are rich in antioxidants are selling like hotcakes. People have come to believe that antioxidants will promote health and and will prevent disease. Food supplements like cranberry capsules, green tea extract as well as vitamin C and vitamin E are bought and consumed by people by the bucket loads. Commercials shown on the television promote certain fruit juices that have boasted to be rich in antioxidants to help us fight highly destructive chemicals called free radicals. But is this really the case? Recent studies in the past few years have concluded that at best, antioxidant supplements do little or nothing to benefit our health. Even worse taking or accidentally taking large doses will give us the opposite effect and will give us health problems that they are suppose to stamp out.

But how did antioxidants acquired the reputation of being a miracle health cure? Decades ago, scientist has discovered that highly destructive chemicals called free radicals are linked to many kinds of diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancers, diabetes and even arthritis. And it was soon discovered that people whose diet are rich in fruit and vegetables have lower rates of diabetes, dementia and certain types of cancer. Fruit and vegetables are a rich source of antioxidants so the connection was made. Free radicals bad, antioxidants good.

The best know antioxidant, vitamin E was put to the test recently by scientist to prove that it is no miracle drug. Studies have shown that vitamin E supplements cannot prevent cancers and Alzheimer's. But taking antioxidants does have a health benefit, but not the way it was hyped out to be. Green tea was found to have health benefits. The best way to have a healthy body is by living a healthy lifestyle. Eat a well balanced meal of fruit, meat, fish and vegetables, take plenty of liquids a get enough sleep. And as of now there is no magic pill that we can take to make us magically healthy.