Talk about health

It's been a funny old week for me. Because it's the summer holidays, loads of people are away enjoying a well-earned break. My daughter has come home from university and really adds sparkle to my otherwise fairly humdrum life. And I went to look after a relatives garden while they are out of the country for a few days.

The sum total of this has meant my time "at work" has been very limited. However, an article in a newspaper caught my eye last night. The headline was "Supplements may damage health" penned by the paper's health correspondent.

"Here we go again ", I thought. A tirade against supplements because we all know that a balance diet is all you need. But, I was wrong. Well, not entirely.

It was based on research done some years ago where smokers were given antioxidant supplements to see if it reduced their risk of cancer. It seems that it actually increased their risk instead, so the trial was stopped and the results screamed around the world.

The problem as I see it is that the researchers were trying to use a fairly simple test for a very complex situation. In other words they wanted to show whether antioxidant supplements could treat cancer. Now, antioxidants are not like drugs. They won't act right away, even in large doses. Natural products such as antioxidants need months and years to build up their effect in small doses, so you can't expect a drug-style trial to work in these circumstances.

Recent research using vitamin C to treat cancer uses very large doses given by intravenous injection. Initial results have been promising. Small oral doses simply don't have any effect over the short-term.

Then, smokers have altered their body's circumstances because they smoke - the nicotine, tars and other chemicals they inhale regularly must change things even in minor ways. So, expecting regular doses of antioxidants to work miracles is stretching the imagination a bit.

I think this type of trial will never work to the satisfaction of mainstream medical scientists and journalists writing articles based on flawed reports.

The good thing about the article was that it concluded that dietary changes were better than antioxidant supplements. But you have to start now, not when you get struck down by some disease-or-other.

I would add that as well as a diet with more fresh fruit and vegetables, a good general multivitamin and mineral supplement is your best bet for good health. High doses of antioxidants might help in certain circumstances, but won't counter poor dietary choices or protect you if you smoke.

There's a moral there if you think about it.

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