Last Halloween, I published an article titled “The Crime of the 20th Century,” which discussed the federal government’s food pyramid, how its structure was influenced by Big Food, and the health disaster that followed its publication.
The pyramid suggested that food from the carbohydrate group be consumed more often than the other food groups, which include meat, dairy, vegetables, and fruit. This led to obesity and Type II diabetes reaching epidemic levels across the country.
The crime was that HHS and the FDA did not react to accumulating evidence that too many carbohydrates cause harm; more importantly, they didn’t share that evidence with the public. This is elected officials being afraid to take on Big Food instead of serving the American people.
Hearings were held, but they did not publicize the truth. Since then, a large number of ultra-processed foods have hit the market with no constraints. Today, it’s possible to eat a meal that doesn’t contain any food.
Today we feature another crime, namely the supplements industry and antioxidants.
Antioxidants are compounds that destroy free radicals in our body. Free radicals are compounds created in our body during metabolic processes, and they can be harmful if not controlled.
The following four statements reflect the conventional wisdom about antioxidants and free radicals. These ideas were developed from government research over the last 50 years. Unfortunately, the research led to changes in the government’s position, which we never heard about.
1. Free radicals are dangerous and can cause harm to the body.
2. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants that can neutralize free radicals.
3. We should consume fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy lifestyle and take advantage of their ability to destroy free radicals.
4. We should also consume antioxidants as supplements to make sure we are getting enough protection.
The responses to these questions are 1- true but misleading, 2 -true, 3 – true but misleading, and 4 – false.
Free radicals exist by the billions inside the body because they are a normal byproduct of chemical reactions that are part of our metabolism. Your body creates free radicals every second as a natural byproduct of turning food into energy. Inside the mitochondria (”power plants” of your cells), oxygen is used to make ATP. About 0.1–2% of the oxygen isn’t fully converted to water. Instead, it forms reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are free radicals.
The immune system also creates them on purpose and uses them to attack viruses. Free radicals can also be created by inflammation, exercise, and pollution.
Number 1 is true, with qualifications. The qualifications apply because the statement instills fear of a dangerous process the body can’t control, without the public knowing that the body already has a system to mitigate the process. The body has a sophisticated system for managing free radicals on its own, without outside help.
Your cells constantly produce the enzymes catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase, which destroy free radicals. These compounds work continuously, and we would die very quickly without them. Catalase resides in the liver, kidneys, and red blood cells, converting dangerous hydrogen peroxide to water. SOD resides in the mitochondria and captures free radicals during energy production. It can convert millions of molecules per second. Glutathione neutralizes lipid peroxides, which damage cell membranes.
Number 2 is true. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants, which add to the body’s own system of free radical control.
Number 3 is true but misleading. It is true that fruits and vegetables are beneficial to the body, but recent research has shown they serve a more important function than free radical control. The results suggest that the major benefit of fruits and vegetables is supporting the human gut.
Gut bacteria convert plant compounds into molecules that reduce inflammation, improve metabolism, influence the immune system, and even affect the brain. The value of fruits and vegetables as antioxidant fighters is less important.
Number 4 is false. During the 1970s and 80s, researchers gained an understanding of free radicals, how they operate, and what threats they pose. It was thought that antioxidant supplements would help control them, so significant research was done to measure their effectiveness in the population. Meanwhile, the supplements industry ramped up production to market products containing antioxidants.
By the 2011-15 period, the federal government suspended research on the effectiveness of antioxidant supplements because they were not able to find that any of them were effective. The overall conclusion was that antioxidant supplements do not prevent most chronic diseases.
After the evidence accumulated, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended:
against beta-carotene supplements for prevention of cardiovascular disease or cancer,
against vitamin E supplements if taken as an antioxidant,
insufficient evidence for most other antioxidant supplements. Those recommendations were reaffirmed in 2022.
The NIH still spends substantial money on antioxidant-related research, but the emphasis has moved to how oxidative stress actually works inside cells, how working antioxidant systems like superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase operate, the value of nutrition rather than pills, specific diseases where oxidative stress may play a role, and development of targeted drugs instead of generic antioxidant supplements.
Researchers now think the body’s own antioxidant defense systems are much more important than swallowing large amounts of antioxidant vitamins. In many cases, reactive oxygen species are not simply “bad” molecules; they’re also essential signaling molecules. Blunting them indiscriminately with high-dose supplements can interfere with normal physiology, which helps explain why many of the large supplement trials failed.
Americans spend about $69 billion per year on dietary supplements overall. Of that number, 15-30% is spent on antioxidant supplements, or $ 10-20 billion per year.
Despite this large expenditure, clinical trials have generally not found that antioxidant supplements reduce overall mortality, prevent heart disease, or prevent most cancers among otherwise healthy people. Benefits are much clearer when antioxidants come from foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes.
Why is the public wasting $ 10-20 billion per year? Because they have never been told that the original ideas about the effectiveness of antioxidant supplements have been discarded, and that taking these supplements is a waste of money.
The supplement industry is regulated differently than pharmaceuticals. Under the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), supplements generally do not need to demonstrate effectiveness before being sold.
Companies cannot legally claim to treat diseases, but they can make broader “structure/function” claims, such as “supports cellular health” or “helps maintain healthy aging,” provided they include the required disclaimer. These messages can strongly influence consumer perceptions.
What we have here is an ineffective product being sold to a public unaware of the truth. That fits the definition of a crime to me. Health organizations in the federal government have an obligation to protect the public’s health, not to waste the people’s money. The heavy advertising these products receive adds to the problem because it implies they are beneficial when they aren’t.
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
My mom was always very into vitamins and supplements, and was always pushing me to take them. But years ago, I noticed that any time I started back up on them, it seemed like 2-4 weeks later I'd end up sick with some kind of upper respiratory infection. Could antioxidants destroy enough of my immune system's free radicals to actually do this?