Death in Small Doses? : BOOKS 1 & 2

INFORM YOURSELF If you are taking an antioxidant or an antioxidant vitamin or are thinking of going on antioxidants, this fully referenced book, Antioxidant Vitamin A, C & E in the 21st Century, is a "must read" for you. The undeniable legacy of antioxidant vitamin use at today's high doses is an assemblage of confusing and conflicting studies and reports of bad side effects in hordes of unsuspecting victims. Only by knowing this information, and in consultation with your healthcare professional, can you make an informed decision about your health care. If you are a user of antioxidant vitamins A, C or E, or multivitamins, you must read this book. Most of the antioxidant side effects I discuss are likely unknown to your busy doctor. Although knowledgeable about routine medical problems, few have heard of increased risks for cancer, heart disease and strokes and fewer still associate increased mortality as being antioxidant-related. As a surgeon, medical research scientist, biochemist and practicing doctor, I was appalled by the lack of information in the medical community on the full range of side effects of the antioxidant vitamins. This book is a selective reference source and summary demonstrating the ineffectiveness and adverse side effects of the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E. Americans are the biggest pill poppers on the planet. Unrestrained marketing of healthcare supplements permeate all forms of media on a constant and daily basis. The old adage is that “It probably won’t hurt me and it might help me. So, why not take it?” Unfortunately, when it comes to the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E, it is becoming manifestly clear that these are agents with unknown or questionable benefits and with known harmful side effects. Thus, the sensible, safe and prudent questions are, “So, why take them at all in the absence of a deficiency state?” "Why waste your money for pills that are only marginally effective, if effective at all or even harmful?" "Is it possible that this entire antioxidant sector of the health industry is driven by market forces and not by medical science?" "Are they just trying to con an unsuspecting public?" The accumulated evidence on antioxidants and EMODs can be maddeningly contradictory. Antioxidant vitamins are no longer about science, they are about marketing. Why take pills that are potentially harmful? Aggressive marketing, testimonials and unrestricted advertising have led to wild claims and to the erroneous belief that antioxidant vitamins, such as A, C and E, are protective from common diseases and that they can effectively help reverse or cure a veritable laundry list of diseases, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, colon cancer, head and neck cancer (including oral premalignant lesions), bladder cancer, colorectal adenomas, polyps of the colon, cardiovascular disease (including ischemic heart disease, hypertension, atherosclerosis, hyperhomocysteinemia, intimal thickening, lowering of cholesterol and triglycerides), strokes, diabetes (including endothelial dysfunction and insulin resistance), macular degeneration, cataracts, pre-eclampsia, Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s disease, tardive dyskinesis, blood platelet disorders, renal insufficiency, and adverse effects of radiation therapy.... and yada, yada, yada. However, in this far-reaching selective review, I report on 181 scientific reports (including prospective, cohort and randomized controlled trials, utilizing analysis and/or meta-analysis) that have shown that antioxidant vitamins produce either marginal effects, negligible effects, no effects at all or harmful effects with many of the disease conditions that I just listed in the above paragraph. And, that is not all. I provide alternative possibilities for safe disease prevention and cure, based on prooxidants. The scale of the antioxidant vitamin use problem is worldwide. In all honesty, I should not be writing a book, which points out the dangers of antioxidant supplements and you should not have to be reading such a book, which describes your increased risk for disease and premature death from these vitamins. Had the investigators, manufacturers and profiteers been honest, these studies would have been stopped long ago and the truth would have been common knowledge. Thus, this book would have been unnecessary. In a nut shell, the antioxidant vitamin supplements have failed to live up to their exalted, overstated expectations or to the rosy speculative predictions of the free radical theory. A Global Public Health Issue However, studies on antioxidant vitamins have been rife with inconsistencies, confusing results and unpredictability. These studies were based on Harman's free radical theory, which is a testable theory. Surprisingly, the free radical theory has repeatedly and blatantly failed many of these tests. But, instead of acknowledging the failure of the antioxidant vitamins, the failed results were said to be merely "disappointing." The inability to reliably repeat studies or to predict their outcomes, for more than fifty years, means that the free radical theory has flat-out failed to meet the requirements of the scientific method and it is thus invalidated, which should be the end of the story. But, marketers of these antioxidant supplements have gone to great lengths to discredit or ignore report after report of these failed studies. Admittedly, study results have to be scrutinized, but eventually a pattern begins to develop, which will reveal underlying truths. Certainly, there are studies extolling the great benefits of the antioxidant vitamins. Yet, proponents of the use of antioxidant vitamins tend to ignore or deny nearly all of the negative studies and continue to push sales of their questionable products. Let's Get More Specific Everywhere we turn, someone is hawking the supposed benefits of antioxidants. Rack after rack of supplements flank the aisles of nutrition stores, pharmacies, grocery stores, supermarkets, sporting good stores, discount stores and now, pet stores, feed stores and on and on. Even though studies continually show their lack of effectiveness, the money just keeps rolling in. People seem to feel that they can neglect their health and make up for it by just popping a few pills….magic pills….magical antioxidants. Even though they are proving to be harmful, many physicians prescribe and use these antioxidant vitamins themselves on a daily basis. Both beta carotene and vitamin E were thought to be free of toxicity but that view is changing rapidly as studies indicate that they can increase mortality rates and risk of common diseases. Tens of millions of Americans and world wide citizens may be hastening their demise, when they do not have to. Yet, many people state that they would continue to take these agents even though scientific evidence points out their harmful potential (Blendon et al, 2001). That fact alone illustrates the power of unrestrained advertising. The Best Advice: Take them only if you have a vitamin deficiency The best advice about antioxidant vitamins is to take them only if you have a proven vitamin deficiency. Otherwise, the second best advice about antioxidant vitamins is that it is rarely, if ever, advisable to obtain them from synthetic sources, as opposed to a balanced, nutritious diet of fresh fruits and vegetables. Unless one has a known vitamin deficiency, antioxidant vitamin supplements appear to be unnecessary, costly and potentially dangerous. The overuse of many readily available antioxidant vitamin supplements appears to be a serious breach of human rights, as many of them are only sold to “protect and promote health.” They make no claims about "curing" anything. Antioxidant vitamin supplements should be taken with considerable thought and subject to drug regulations and follow-up.