Can you overdo antioxidants? Several products have been claimed to ward off cancer through their antioxidant effects, including lycopene, grapeseed extract, selenium, and vitamins C and E. But if I take them all (my MD tells me that I’m healthy now), will I mummify myself by stopping all the chemical reactions in my body? Or will I, like Henry Hyde, retain my youthful exuberance late into life? I have seen the future, and it is pills. But I don’t want to overdo a good thing.
Vitamins C and E and most other anti-oxidants are water soluble. What your body doesn’t use will simply be urinated out. You can’t overdo it unless you take so much that you saturate your blood, but that’s a butt-load of vitamins!! You’ll be fine.
You can indeed overdose on vitamins, but it usually takes some doing. Whale blubber contains extreme amounts of vitamin A, so take it easy on your next trip to Nuuk. That being said, the idea of anti-oxidants being good medications is interesting and makes sense but the proof could be better. Taking small doses of vitamins is probably as effective as taking bigger doses. Vitamin C is water soluble, as said, so you pee out the difference. Vitamins A,D,E and K are fat-soluble, so (in contrast to above), large doses of vitamin E can cause you problems.
I haven’t read the study so I cannot comment on its accuracy versus all of the studies which show no harm (or benefit, really).
Oh, and nitpick – Vitamin E is fat soluble. You don’t urinate it out.
Just remember that there has been little scientific evidence for any of these antioxidants having any effect whatsoever. You can take all you want, but they are chemicals, so side effects or long term harm is a real possibility. I have not heard of any cases of toxicity, but this doesn’t mean it is outside the realm of possibility.
You won’t stop the chemical reactions in your body, though. Free radicals are produced as reaction by-products, and your body efficiently degrades them with catalases and aforementioned antioxidants. Few reactions are actually dependent on the presence of free radicals.