BeanDiet

WOW. You guys are going to love this post - it's a crazy one, and I still can't believe this didn't make the nightly news.

I found this study (published in May 2009 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, see here) that just happened to show exactly what I've been proclaiming about the dangers of supplements.

Here's what went down. This study had 40 men (some athletic, some not) exercise for an ongoing period of time and researchers check their insulin sensitivity (the opposite of insulin resistance). Studies show that our bodies become more sensitive, or receptive, to insulin when we exercise, which is one of the many reasons exercise is so important. Which is what researchers observed in this study in the men who did not take vitamin supplements.

That's right. Half of these men were given vitamin E and C supplements for the duration of the study, the other half took placebo, or "dummy pills". The men who took the supplements had no benefit (in insulin sensitivity) from the same amount of exercise as the men who did not take supplements.

Here's a quote straight from the author of the study: "these findings indicate that physical exercise induces several molecular regulators of insulin sensitivity irrespective of previous training status and that this induction is widely inhibited by antioxidant supplementation". (italics mine)

In other words, antioxidant supplements negate the beneficial effects of exercise when it comes to preventing or managing diabetes!

And if that weren't enough to warrant headlines, researchers also found that the supplements interfered with the body's natural ability to combat free radicals. Now, this is quite ironic, considering that antioxidant nutrients such as vitamin C & E are renown for combating free radical damage. This is big news, because free radicals are what cause cancer, cell mutations and plaque that leads to heart disease.

But here's the deal: antioxidant nutrients that come from food DO fight free radicals. When those nutrients are found unnaturally in supplement form (isolated from the other nutrients and compounds in food) they don't. Worse yet, they interfere with our bodies own antioxidant-fighting molecules derived through exercise.

Neither of these findings are brand-spanking new in the scientific community. Supplements don't work like nutrients from food. They don't benefit us: they harm us. (See my past posts on this topic for more info.)

So why on earth are supplement companies making billions of dollars? I know, I know: fear. But don't you think our fear is misplaced? Instead of being afraid of not taking vitamins (and minerals), I think we need to have a healthy fear of the damage they cause. Call me crazy.