I am looking for the best value for money product that would combine as many different ones as possible, and would not overkill on the dosage. Is there a ranking of their efficacy?
A liquid of natural origin maybe?
Yes - orange juice would be a good example. Other fruit juices have value as well, containing useful bioactive substances other than antioxidants. And they tend to be cheaper than pills.
Assuming that more is better and taking a “superpill” loaded with a variety of antioxidants could be hazardous to your health.
*"There are a number of reasons why high concentrations of antioxidants may be harmful. At high concentrations, antioxidants may:
act as pro-oxidants, increasing oxidation
protect dangerous cells (such as cancer cells) as well as healthy cells
reduce the health benefits of exercise
have unwanted side effects, such as nausea and headaches, or even reach toxic levels."*
Another point in favor of getting your micronutrients from actual foods is that there are a lot of compounds in plants that are good for you, and we haven’t identified and isolated all of them yet.
I’ve no intent to threadshit and I’m sorry if this comes off that way.
Is there a respectable body of scientific evidence that says that anti-oxidant supplementation is beneficial to anyone already consuming a basic, healthy diet? I’m genuinely wondering about this. The last time I researched this, nearly a decade ago, this was pretty much fad and woo-woo. I don’t have any clue what the literature says now.
The point of supplements isn’t for people who are already consuming a healthy diet. It’s for people whose diet is lacking in some things. Though you’re right that a better fix there is to change the diet.
I have seen some medical researchers here and there who are not fans of anti-oxidants. After all, the body itself produces oxidants for various reasons and blocking those might not be the best idea. There seems to be good ones and bad ones.
The idea of a scatter-shot anti-oxidant overuse is something that personally I would avoid.
This column on the Science Based Medicine site is a good summary.
And it also talks about a recent study that showed increased risk of cancer metastases as a result of taking anti-oxidants.
I am looking for chemical hearing protection. The studies show a significant reduction in hearing loss w/ antioxidant use a little bit over the 100% per day limit.
Yes, taking too much would fuck you up, is what they say. Which is why I am not into buying the multi vit pills – they also don’t have an even % of each one, so some would be under 100% some like 10,000% for some reason.
I am thinking getting berry and pomegranate juice and mixing this into it, then taking a small shot equivalent to about 50% of each one:
vit e + magnesium + NAC + CQ10 + Vit C
Again this would be like 50%-75% or so per day, presuming I’d get the rest from food. I know I must need these because yesterday I was at a very loud event and about 1hr post taking these the ringing stopped completely.
Do you have a supporting link for these studies? Again, I’m very curious what the current literature says.
I have dry macular degeneration. According to the studies done by the National Eye Institute’s AREDS2 study, antioxidants have proven to help prevent or delay progression to wet AMD and vision loss.
I take the Presservision vitamin under the direction of my ophthalmologist. I also follow as best i can the recommended diet of reading fish three times a week and fruit and leafy greens every day. That has the added benefit of lowering my cholesterol and blood pressure. 113/70 ain’t bad for someone nearly sixty.
There are no studies that show that the vitamin does anyone who isn’t predisposed to AMD any good at all. Having some blueberries and spinach every day will have more widespread benefits for most.
I just keep shelling out the $20 per bottle because when that ceases to work, it’s shots in the eyeball time and that seriously scares the crap out of me.