applied topically, can speed the healing of wounds. Food sources include vegetable oils, margarine, nuts, seeds, avocados and wheat germ. One study, that grabbed lots of press in late 2004, showed that people who took higher doses of vitamin E had a greater risk of mortality compared to those who didn’t. The study looked at small groups of people who had chronic medical conditions. The study was unable to determine the risk to normal, healthy people. Their findings showed that 150IU or less appeared to be safe, which is about one regular 400IU capsule every other day.
. .. Beta-carotene is another antioxidant, which belongs to a group |
of plant pigments called carotenoids. These carotenoids are responsible for the red, orange and yellow hues in many plants and some insects. Other notable carotenoids include lutein (helpful for eye health) and lycopene (from tomatoes). The carotenoids are thought to be the antioxidant products produced by most plants in order to protect themselves from free radicals. These plant pigments have been associated with reduced rates of various cancers. One caveat though, smokers, who took beta-carotene, had a higher occurrence of cancer than smokers who did not take this supplements. This is one more reason to quit smoking and eat more carrots. |
. .. Many antioxidant supplements may use a generic wording like “ACES”; which refers to vitamin A (Beta-carotene), vitamin C, vitamin E and Selenium. Other antioxidant supplements are usually extracts of deep coloured berries and other fruits. For some reason the more exotic the fruit, the higher the price and the greater the supposed antioxidant ability. There are some wonderful marketing and publicity campaigns behind ‘superfruits’ and their ability to improve your health: noni, guava, Goji berries, mangosteen and acai to name a few. While it may be true that these products are good sources of antioxidants and might be good for you, there is little scientific
Ian Lloyd...Continued On Page 6 |
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