Thanks for the post. I go on and off the supplement bandwagon—though at most in recent years I’d just take 1 multi-vitamin. But lately I’ve been eschewing them in favor of good ol’ fruits and veggies, always looking for ways to get them in.

Speaking of that, maybe you have an answer. How does drinking 100% fruit juices compare with eating the actual fruits for nutritional benefits? that seems like a convenient way to get an extra serving or 2 into a busy day…

Oxidants seem to be in everything these days. My friend’s doctor asked me to put blueberry on my face to prevent ageing, but they’re expensive enough to buy and eat!!

Very interesting!

Hi there Cooking Chat. I think that the vast majority of antioxidant supplements are not worth the money and you’re much, much better off sticking with the basics of good old fruit and veg. I take a multivitamin every day and use other supplements on myself and with clients, for more short-term goals, but food is always the foundation.

Regarding fruit juices, I’ll actually write a post on that subject in the next few days, because there are positives and negatives. As with most things there’s no simple yay or nay answer.

Mallika, antioxidants on your face! Wow, that’s one expensive face pack. I think you are much, much better to eat them – you’ll get all the antioxidant effect, as well as the joy of their beautiful taste and texture. I’m very, VERY sceptical about how much benefit is to be gained from smearing them on your face.

[…] A while back Cooking Chat asked a question in the comments on my post about antioxidant supplements – are juices a good way to get your daily fruit serves? […]

We keep making the same mistake:

some of us took b vitamins
The problem is, that when you take individual b vitamins, and there is excess of that particular b vitamin, your body excretes ALL of the b vitamins. So, the unintended consequence is that your body is actually DEPLETED of the b vitamins that you didn’t take. We learn, and now all sensible people who supplement B vitamins use a good balanced b complex suppliment that has all of the B vitamins in balance. Of course doctors are not sensible, they still prescribe individual b vitamins….
Next, we try huge amounts of beta carotene. Wonderful stuff right? Makes vitamin A, its an antioxident, but what was the result? It actually increased the chances of getting all of the diseases it was supposed to prevent.
Simularly, we took artificial vitamin E (dl-alpha-tocopherl). It was supposed to be an effective antioxident and prevent all sorts of bad diseases, and it seems to, but only in the natural form d-alpha-tocopherl. Now sensible people take d-alpha-tocopherl, or get their vitamin E from things like flax oil or other healthy food. Of course doctors continue to prescribe dl-alpha-tocopherl.
If we take antioxidants that have been synthetically extracted, or that exist naturally in excessive amounts in a “super food”, in a way that is out of balance, doesn’t it stand to reason that what we are doing is probably counter-productive? Will we EVER learn…..
If you take synthetic antioxidents, I would suggest that the quantity of the suppliment should be far less than the antioxidants that you get from your food, which should have as much variety of antioxidants as possible. You won’t get dramatic benefits, but at least your not wasting your money on something that could actually be counter-productive. An this coming from someone who wants to sell these synthetic anti-oxidants…. :)
Always remember, anything in excess is harmful. I remember there was a woman recently that brain damaged herself by drinking too much water. Oxygen is poisonous in excess. Beta carotene in HUGE excess will turn your skin orange, but it will also increase your chances of dying of heart disease, etc. by 7%. You can buy pure beta carotene, and take huge amounts until your skin turns orange, but why waste the money if it actually harms your health? Just because it is an antioxidant? That is stupid.
Antioxidants have the benefit if eaten, wasteful for external use. But you could use cheap sythetic antioxidants externally. I heard that Nicole Kidman was using lycopene in skin cream. It appears to be quite a rage of late, and I will sell it quite cheap, it costs about $1.10/gram, with markup and postage a bit more, but 1 gram is quite a bit. 1 gram mixed with 30kg of skin cream or shampoo would probably be as red as a tomato, because that is the lycopene concentration that naturally occurs in a tomato. It would block blue and yellow light (which can cause some damage), and also maybe give a little natural blush.