Problems with Antioxidant-Supplementation

The Body has an elaborate network of innate molecules and ingested compounds designed to maintain a balanced oxidative state, which is important for optimal function and health.

Oxidative stress, a condition characterized by an imbalance between pro-oxidants and anti-oxidants within the body, has been linked to the aging process. A growing body of evidence suggests that a diet high in fruit and vegetables helps prevent oxidative stress.

In fact, antioxidants – chemicals able to quench or neutralize free radicals – are thought to be responsible for many of the benefits that are derived from fruit and vegetables. Because few people eat sufficient amounts of fruit and vegetables, supplementation with antioxidants would seem to be the key to providing those benefits offered by diets that are high in fruit and vegetables..

However, we should exercise caution when choosing an antioxidant supplement.

Problems with Antioxidant Supplementation

Supplementation with high doses of single antioxidant supplements or combinations of a few antioxidants has proven ineffective in some cases and harmful in others. The doses used in these failed trials differed greatly from amounts found in fruit and vegetables and often included only either lipid- or water- soluble antioxidants.

There are other key differences between foods with abundant antioxidant nutrients, and antioxidant supplements. Antioxidants in the body do not function independently. Whole foods provide forms of isolated nutrients that lack the accompanying nutrients necessary for proper function.

Also nutrients in foods can be released more slowly than those in supplement form. The large doses of highly bioavailable antioxidants may result in a brief spike in blood plasma antioxidant levels (which may exceed healthy levels) followed by a return to deficient levels.

In contrast, foods may offer more subtle and sustained protection. The high doses of isolated nutrients that are often involved in supplementation can have undesirable consequences.

Because free (unbound) vitamin A damages cells, symptoms of toxicity arise when the amount of vitamin A ingested overwhelms the number of proteins available to bind and transport it throughout the body. Toxic levels of vitamin A are unlikely to develop in individuals who derive their vitamin A from a balanced diet.

Supplementation, on the other hand, makes an overdose of vitamin A quite possible. Similarly, supplemental forms of beta-carotene can be dangerous, but eating too much beta-carotene from food sources, though it may cause the skin to appear yellow, is harmless.

Researchers found that whole tomato powder but not lycopene, a carotenoid found in tomatoes, inhibited prostate carcinogenesis in rats, demonstrating the functionality of a whole-food supplement and the lack of efficacy of a high dose of an isolated nutrient.

Since foods have been effective in combating oxidative stress, and supplements generally have not, reconciling the differences between the two and minimizing their shared vulnerability in processing and handling became the focus during the formulation of a supplement combining glyconutrients with a special blend of antioxidants. This synergistic combination was found to be 300% more effective than what was previously the leading antioxidant on the market.

Importance of Balance

Numerous studies have demonstrated that cooperation among antioxidant nutrients is essential for proper function. Without such cooperation, free radicals can become concentrated in certain areas within the body, creating a capacitor effect, meaning that antioxidants fuel localized chain reactions, harming, rather than protecting cells.

Hence, the idea of balance between pro-oxidants and anti-oxidants within the body, to a balance among antioxidants themselves.

Until recently, achieving balance has been impeded because scientists have lacked the tools to analyze interactions among antioxidant compounds with varying solubilities.

Previous failures with high-dose antioxidant supplementation have shown that more of pure substances is not necessarily better. For example, large doses of purified, individual vitamins can lead to very high, followed by very low, levels of those vitamins in the blood and tissues that need them.

As a result, antioxidant nutrients are often not available when they are needed for necessary biological functions, or they can be present in toxic amounts. A steady, sustained bioavailability of a sufficient amount of antioxidants is critical for providing protection against oxidative tissue damage.

In other words, antioxidant supplements should closely resemble the antioxidant-rich foods that gradually release sufficient vitamins and minerals during digestion and absorption.

There is one Antioxidant Cell Protection Formula which has been designed to contain a balance of antioxidants, to release them slowly to sustain protection, and to protect the active compounds by limiting their exposure to oxygen.

When its antioxidant effect was examined in humans, the recommended dosage provided an average over twice the protection offered by an additional five servings of fruit and vegetables to the diet.

This Antioxidant Cell Protection Formula with immune support:

Ingredients:

Each capsule contains: Ambrotose-Phyto Formula™ (acacia; Xanthomona campestris gum powder; tragacanth; ghatti gum; Aloe barbadensis inner leaf juice powder; Powders of (Daucus carota root; Allium cepa bulb; Allium sativum bulb; Lycopersicon esculentum fruit; Brassica rapa root; Brassica oleracea varieties (gemmifera (Brussels sprout)herb top, italica (broccoli) herb top, capitata (cabbage)leaf, botrytis (cauliflower) herb top, acephala (kale) leaf); Carica papaya fruit; Ananas sativus fruit); MTech AO Blend® (quercetin; Vitis vinifera extract equiv. dry fruit skin; Terminalia ferdinandiana (Australian Bush Plum) fruit flesh powder; Camellia sinsensis extract equiv. dry leaf; d-alpha-tocopherol;) Caffeine. Also contains encapsulating aids.

For information about purchasing this product please contact me.

Disclaimer: Dietary supplements are designed to improve nutrition rather than to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Anyone, regardless of their original state of health can benefit from improved nutrition.