GUESTCOLUMN
If it ain't broke, don't fix it
- Published: 20 Nov 2012 at 00.00
- Newspaper section: Life
Over the past few years, there has been much debate about the benefits of taking vitamins, especially vitamins E and C, at a higher dosage than the body's daily requirement, in the hope that they can prevent heart diseases and hardening of the arteries. These two vitamins have antioxidant properties, but can they also prevent disease?
Vitamin C and vitamin E occur naturally in the food that we eat, so essentially they pose no harm. They are also affordable and widely available, so they are quite popular because most people think they are "natural" substances and won't do any harm to their health. They hope that they will help them stay forever young and healthy. The truth is, too much of a good thing can have the opposite effect.
There have been several systematic experiments to determine whether these vitamins do what they are claimed to do. Comparing a group of people who received vitamin E and vitamin C to a group of those who did not, it was evident that after a year, there was no significant indicator that the vitamins helped with the arteries or the heart in general.
This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.
