Some antioxidants 'may be harmful'

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

A review of 67 studies involving more than 230,000 people found "no convincing evidence" that antioxidant supplements cut the risk of dying. "Even more, beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E seem to increase mortality," the experts wrote.

The review, published by the Cochrane Collaboration, involved trials on beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium. The experts noted that the studies involved different doses of each antioxidant.

For example, the beta-carotene dose ranged from 1.2mg to 50mg daily, with an average of 18mg, while vitamin C ranged from 60mg to 2,000mg daily, with an average of 497mg.

People taking part in the trials were either healthy (and were taking part in primary prevention trials) or had any sort of disease (and were taking part in secondary prevention trials). A total of 232,550 people were included across all the trials.

Forty-seven trials included 180,938 people and had a low risk of bias. In these trials, the "antioxidant supplements significantly increased mortality", the authors wrote.

When the different antioxidants were assessed separately and low-risk-of-bias trials were included and selenium excluded, vitamin A was linked to a 16% increased risk of dying, beta-carotene to a 7% increased risk and vitamin E to a 4% increased risk. However, there was no significant detrimental effect caused by vitamin C, the authors said.

"We found no evidence to support antioxidant supplements for primary or secondary prevention," they added. "Beta-carotene, vitamin A and vitamin E given singly or combined with other antioxidant supplements significantly increase mortality. There is no evidence that vitamin C may increase longevity.

"We lack evidence to refute a potential negative effect of vitamin C on survival. Selenium tended to reduce mortality but only when high-bias risk trials were considered. Accordingly, we need more research on vitamin C and selenium."

Goran Bjelakovic, a visiting researcher who carried out the review at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, added: "The bottom line is that current evidence does not support the use of antioxidant supplements in the general healthy population or in patients with certain diseases."