Exercise and Vitamin Supplements Don’t Mix
Posted On May 19, 2009
This study, published in the National Academy of Sciences and reported in the New York Times, suggests that if you exercise to improve your metabolism and prevent diabetes, you may want to avoid antioxidant supplements C and E.
The researchers, led by Dr. Michael Ristow, a nutritionist at the University of Jena in Germany, had young men exercise. They then gave half of the men moderate doses of supplements C and E, and the other half were given a placebo.
The scientists measured two things:
1) sensitivity to insulin;
2) indicators of the body’s natural defenses to oxidative damage.
Results?
1) The Jena team found that the group taking the supplements had no improvement in insulin sensitivity;
2) and almost no activation of the body’s natural defense mechanism against oxidative damage.
They think the reason may be that these supplements might short-circuit the body’s
natural defense response to exercise. Basically, this is complete conjecture. They don’t know exactly why the body reacted in this way to the supplements, but do leave us with their advice.“If you exercise to promote health, you shouldn’t take large amounts of antioxidants,” Dr. Ristow said. A second message of the study, he said, “is that antioxidants in general cause certain effects that inhibit otherwise positive effects of exercise, dieting and other interventions.” The findings appear in this week’s issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The advice does not apply to the same vitamins found in fruits and vegetables, Dr. Ristow said; even though they are high in antioxidants, the many other substances they contain presumably outweigh any negative effect.
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