Do Antioxidants Help Us Avoid Heart Disease?

In a large Swedish study last year, 32,561 women from ages 49 to 83 were randomly selected.  At that point, they had no evidence of heart disease.  The study then followed them for an average of 9.9 years.  The participants were given a comprehensive diet analysis at the start of the study, which was used to figure the total antioxidant capacity of the diet.

The women were then divided into 5 groups, based on their antioxidant capacity.  Because Sweden keeps comprehensive health records on everyone, the scientists were able to use that information to look at fatal and non-fatal heart attacks among the participants in the study.  They also adjusted the data for other factors, such as weight, smoking, alcohol use, family history of heart disease - and food supplement use.

The bottom line is that the woman who consumes a variety of high antioxidant foods is healthier.  The women with the highest intake were getting 44% of their antioxidants from 6-7 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, 18% from 3-4 servings of whole grains, 14% from 3-4 servings of coffee and 4% from less than one serving of chocolate per week.  

In addition, there was a Landmark Study in the US in 2007, involving supplements that provide a full spectrum of naturally-occurring antioxidants (Nutrition Journal 2007).  The men and women who  used those had been taking Shaklee supplements for over 20 years - at least a multivitamin, B-vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids to achieve a "holistic approach" to antioxidant nutrition. Their results were far better than the other 2 groups.  One was of people who used a different multivitamin  and the other group was of non-vitamin users.  If you'd like to know more about the study, let me know.  It was conducted by epidemiologists at the Univ. of California at Berkeley.