Antioxidant Claims: Beneficial or Bogus?

While wandering up and down the grocery aisles filling my basket with healthy foods-a real challenge these days since every week Yahoo! News tells us of contaminated food items to avoid, foods that were once thought to be healthy that are now considered bad, or foods we ought to get more of-I discovered a new cherry-flavored soft drink with a pink label and big white letters informing me that it was loaded with antioxidants. Like any curious consumer, I wondered just how healthful a soft drink could be.

Antioxidants: The Good News

I knew antioxidants fight free radicals, I knew they're good for you and you get them by eating colorful fruits and vegetables, but beyond that, you need doctoral training in chemistry and the physical sciences to understand even the simplest explanation of what they do. That's because these nuggets work their magic on the molecular level, and how many of us are molecular biologists? In plain English, antioxidants are the chemical strings that make up what the layman refers to as vitamins, and a number of other substances that help fight off cellular diseases and the effects of aging. All of this, as the claims suggest, is true. And the best news is that your body handles the chemical processes on its own, no help required from you-except that you eat a balanced diet, but you knew that already, right?

So why all the fuss over the last few years about antioxidants being a wonder cure, a must for hardcore fitness enthusiasts, a possible miracle drug for cancer, or perhaps even having the ability to reverse aging?

Science Holds Many Answers, But Not All The Answers

The standards of the scientific method are probably the best put forward by mankind for the acquisition of reliable knowledge. Essentially, someone states a theory, tests are made to support or deny that theory, and the theory gains credibility as more researchers conduct tests to support their claims, modifying the theory when new results are found, until a greater understanding emerges. The practice is self-regulating in that other researchers verify the findings of their colleagues with repeated studies, adding new data as the process continues. There is always controversy and debate, but this is good because it ensures that faulty theories are discarded and reliable ones that hold up over time become fact, indisputable, dependable knowledge. But good science is slow, and takes years to establish the hard facts that most of us take for granted.

The truth of the matter is researchers hold many answers, but the deeper they investigate, the more questions that are raised. Nutritional science has been stymied for years over the molecular processes that take place between nutrients and cells. There is much research still to be done. However, researchers are getting closer to the answers, and this gives them hope. So every new piece of evidence that is reported in Science News and other scientific journals eventually creeps into a product's advertising campaign. And consumer dollars are spent chasing away fears.

Scientific Hope Leads To Corporate Profit

The industrial food complex throws around a lot of catchphrases to help peddle their food-like substances, products with ingredients that have undergone so much processing the end result hardly resembles anything you'd find in nature. Marketers have always used scientific terms to sell their products.

A large segment of the health product industry exists due to people's fears about weight, disease, and aging. So while science researches these issues, industrious companies exploit the findings. There are conflicting results in research showing what effect vitamins loaded with specific antioxidant chains have on the body's ability to repair damage after intense workouts. But science is hopeful about unlocking those secrets. Free radicals do wreak havoc on cells and can cause cancer, although the body's ability to combat this on its own is remarkable, though researchers aren't quite sure how. But they believe they will find out soon. And although free radicals do appear to cause symptoms we associate with aging, the scientific community is a long way from having a reliable explanation. Perhaps when researchers do find the key, they will reverse aging. Studies show that they may, someday.

So for the meanwhile, get your antioxidants-eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, get your exercise, but let your body handle the rest. And be assured that when those breakthrough discoveries come, you won't have to rely on the industrial food and health complex for the news. They haven't always been the most trustworthy source of information.