Antioxidant Supplements - Quick Fix or Quick Flush?
Many products offer consumers a substitution for eating real foods, claiming to provide a super jam-packed boost of everything fruits and vegetables offer and more. Do you get what you pay for? And perhaps more importantly, what are you paying for?
Juice Plus+ is one such product that offers to help fill the gaps if you are not taking in the recommended five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Sold as capsules, chewables, wafers, and even gummies for kids, these supplements claim to offer the benefits of whole fruits and vegetables.
The website starts by making many statements that cannot be disputed: “Most people still don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables every day.” “Healthful whole food nutrition of fruits and vegetables in our diets can … improve our health and reduce our risk of degenerative diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer.” And “Whether it’s a new vitamin, an antioxidant, or some other phytonutrient not yet ‘discovered’ by science, fruits and vegetables contain an unparalleled array of nutritional elements that offer protection for our bodies -- nutrition that we simply can’t get from vitamin pills and other traditional nutritional supplements. And, the thousands of nutrients found in fruits and vegetables work together in ways that science is just beginning to explore.”
But the site then states that “taking Juice Plus+ is the next best thing to fruits and vegetables. Juice Plus+ contains not only a far wider variety of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals than traditional vitamin supplements, but also the antioxidants and other phytonutrients -- even the fiber -- found in fresh, raw fruits and vegetables.”
How exactly are all of the vitamins, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and fiber of whole fruits and vegetables “concentrated” into a gummy or wafer? Neither broccoli nor a blueberry can be turned into a magic bullet in the form of a pill. In addition, the site does not mention that many of the studies listed to prove the benefits of the product were funded by its manufacturer or that other studies conducted by truly independent researchers dismiss the conclusions of those on the site or consider them “clinically irrelevant.”
Another product, Tahitian Noni Juice is made of extract of the exotic noni fruit and is said to contain powerful antioxidants, boost the immune system, and increase energy. The website is vague about actual benefits due to regulations regarding health claims, but websites of independent distributors make miraculous health claims that the actual company cannot. Despite these claims, there is no peer-reviewed scientific research proving health benefits of noni juice in humans.
Finally, ViaVienté is a juice made of “whole foods and one of the world’s rarest, most pristine mineral waters.” A distributor’s website claims it boosts energy levels and delivers the highest amount of antioxidant power than any other similar product known today. The juice is made from mineral water that is bottled from a naturally occurring spring in Ecuador and the purees from 10 fruits and 2 roots that the company calls phytonectar. It claims these nectars contain phytochemicals, which are natural components found in plants, many of which have antioxidant properties. “The Healing Power of ViaViente comes primarily from the antioxidants found in the seeds and skins of its fruit and plant purees.” However, the site does not offer any proof of the power of ViaVienté aside from the longevity of the residents of the South American valley from which the mineral water originates.
American Heart Association Recommendations
Recently, most of the scientific research around antioxidant supplements has focused on how they may reduce cardiovascular disease risk. However, the American Heart Association (AHA) doesn’t recommend using antioxidant vitamin supplements until more complete data are available. They continue to recommend that people eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods, which all of these supplement websites do admit to be a key to optimal health. “Eating a variety of foods low in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol will provide a natural source of these vitamins, minerals and fiber.”
According to the AHA, until recently, it was thought that antioxidant supplements could help prevent a development of fatty buildups in the arteries that lead to heart attack and stroke. However, more recent clinical trials have failed to demonstrate a beneficial effect of antioxidant supplements, and some studies even suggest that antioxidant supplement use could have harmful effects.
The same word of caution applies to using dietary supplements of antioxidants to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD). “At this time, the scientific evidence supports a diet high in food sources of antioxidants and other heart-protecting nutrients, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts instead of antioxidant supplements to reduce risk of CVD.”
Researchers are only beginning to understand the complexity of food – all that it contains, as well as all of its natural benefits. Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg, director of the Antioxidants Laboratory at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, recently summed it up quite well in an article on cnn.com. “There are about 20,000 different antioxidants in our diet. There aren’t 20,000 different pills to take,” Blumberg said. “One of the reasons dietary supplements can’t replace a healthful diet is because we don’t know about what’s important to put in every pill.”
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