Swine Flu Vaccine: Going To Be A Hit In Vegas

Next week brings the first mass distribution of the eagerly awaited H1N1 swine flu vaccine.  There will be people lining up at clinics, hospitals, and local CVS pharmacies to get the shot or nasal spray that is supposed to protect against this latest, sometimes deadly, variation of the age-old pig flu.

Not sure I’m going to be one of them.  I’m really struggling with justifying the benefits of the vaccination when balanced with the possible side effects.  Although betting on the odds of experiencing adverse reactions is a sucker bet even when compared to Vegas odds,  I don’t have to worry about dropping dead if I go bust on a chancy Blackjack hand.

I’m struggling even more with the decision of whether to get my toddler son vaccinated.

First, everyday we are hearing about more deaths related to the swine flu.  So, it is clearly a growing threat that seems to popping up all over the country.  The latest reports include a startling statistic.  Apparently out of 100 pregnant women who have been diagnosed with H1N1, 28 have died!  That’s over 1 out of every 4.  Scary.

Swine flu vaccination circa 2009

Let’s talk about this new vaccination that would have supposedly protected those women from ever contracting the disease.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Before we can talk about the 2009 vaccine, we really need to talk about the vaccine that was produced to protect against the last U.S.-based swine flu outbreak.

This was 1976, and a soldier based at Fort Dix in New Jersey had been diagnosed with swine flu. He died within 2-3 days. Within a day or so, another 2-3 soldiers in the same base had been diagnosed as having contracted the pig flu. Mass panic led to the development of a quick vaccine to protect against this particular strain that had infected the soldiers.

Why the mass panic after only one death? Because the health officials that had examined this one case publicly stated that the flu strain contracted by the soldiers in New Jersey was similar to the strain responsible for the 1918 flu pandemic.

You remember the 1918 swine flu pandemic?  It was the outbreak that spread across the globe infecting an estimated 500 million people and killing anywhere between 50 and 100 million individuals worldwide. Can you imagine? A flu outbreak that killed at least 50 million people!

So, in 1976, just mentioning the 1918 outbreak led to a major panic and rush to the nearest clinic to get vaccinated for this latest flu threat.

That photo to the left is a widely publicized picture of then President Gerald Ford receiving the 1976 swine flu vaccination. Off topic: Did nurses really wear hats like that in 1976?

Well, in 1976, the anticipated outbreak never happened.  The soldier in New Jersey was the only death associated with that strain of swine flu.  The other soldiers lived, and no other cases were ever recorded. But let’s talk about the vaccine that was developed.

During the 1976 mass vaccination campaign, 1 in every 100,000 recipients of the vaccine developed Guillain Barré syndrome (GBS), a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system, often leading to paralysis and death. GBS is a known potential side effect of any influenza (flu) vaccine.

There is no known cure for GBS.

In 1976 roughly 40 million Americans received the vaccine and some 4,000 developed GBS.  Of these 4,000, there were 25 deaths confirmed to have been caused by vaccine-related GBS.

So, in the 1976 Swine Flu Fiasco, as it is commonly referred to, the disease racks up one kill, the cure twenty five.

1976 Body Count:      Swine Flu 1            Swine Flu Vaccine 25

Switch back to 2009.  The CDC is already distributing information that states that when receiving the new flu vaccine “the estimated risk for more serious reactions (e.g. Guillain Barré syndrome) is between 1-10 per million persons vaccinated”.

This is a circumspect way of acknowledging that the risks associated with the new vaccine is about the same as the vaccine produced in 1976.  According to these estimates, as many as 1 in every 100,000 recipients of the vaccine will develop GBS or some other severe adverse reaction.

Once again, there is no known cure cure for GBS.

So, I have to ask myself, how bad will this outbreak really be?  1918 bad (which would be really really bad)? Or 1976 bad (which means pretty much not bad at all)?

And I have to ask myself, just in case, do I spin the roulette wheel, get the vaccination, and hope that neither I nor my son land on black?

What about you? Will you be rushing to get in line for the long awaited swine flu shot?

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Will I Need A Prescription For These Sugar Pills?

Big Pharma is worried. Have you noticed that there are substantially fewer new drugs that are making it through pharmaceutical testing and being released to the consumer market? Especially in the mood treatment arena where Prozac and Valium have ruled for years.

Want to know one reason why?

Because evidently, sugar pills are as just as effective at curing us as many of comprehensively researched, painstakingly designed, and massively marketed medicinal cocktails being developed by companies like Merck and Smith-Glaxo. And it’s not that the new drugs don’t work. You don’t spend all those dollars on research and development unless you are pretty sure the drug will do what it’s supposed to do. The key to getting it to market is to ensure a minimum of overly dangerous side effects.

So the new drugs are typically effective in bestowing the medicinal benefits intended. It’s just that, during the clinical testing trials of these new drugs, the placebos are proving to work just as well at providing those same benefits.

New drug comes up for trial testing. A group of test subjects is selected. Some percentage of those subjects are given the real drug, while another group is given sugar pills that look like the real drug. Neither group knows whether they are getting the real thing or not.

Many of these tests are now showing that the group taking the placebo experiences an inordinately high number of member individuals who show the same benefits as those in the other group taking the real drug. In other words, in these cases, people even thinking they might be taking the real drug somehow fool their body into producing the same effects as they would expect if they really were taking the drug.

It’s really hurting the pharmaceutical industry because the FDA will not approve any drug where the placebo effect during testing distorts the true intended benefits of the drug.

As a result of this phenomena, scientists are beginning to discover that the power of the human brain can be a far stronger healing agent than Big Pharma’s black bag of pills, powders, and potions.

There’s a great article in last month’s Wired Magazine that gets into far more detail. You can read the online version here.

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Oprah Versus The Supplement Scammers

I knew this would come at some point.

We’ve talked about all the fake celebrity supplement endorsements that are being splashed across the Internet and in popular magazines and newspapers.  And because a recommendation from Oprah is second to only a blessing from the Pope, it’s no surprise that her face is attached to all kinds of miracle supplements including acai and resveratrol pills and juices.  I believe it all stemmed from an episode of her show where she and her resident “health expert” Dr. Oz touted the benefits of acai.

Supplement makers saw that, put their scheming heads together, and came to the conclusion that:

“Hey, if she likes acai, then she must love resveratrol!  And if she likes them in their natural form, she must love the convenience of having them processed and crammed into pills,  powders, and potions.  And hey, didn’t she lose alot of weight recently - again?  It must have been the acai!”

Guess Oprah has tired of seeing these supplement makers bless their products with her smiling face and newly toned body.  She and Dr. Oz have teamed up and dropped lawsuits on 40 different supplement companies.  Well, 40 different company names, anyway.  Truth is, many of these “free sample” supplement scams are run by multiple shell companies that roll up into one large holding company.  One that is usually located in the corporate meccas of Vietnam, Granada, or some other hard to reach business haven.

On her website, Oprah Winfrey has laid out her law:  “Consumers should be aware that neither Oprah Winfrey nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any açaí berry product, company or online solicitation of such products, including MonaVie juice products…Neither Oprah nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any specific resveratrol product, company or online solicitation of such products. Any companies that misrepresent their affiliation are making false claims.”

“We know that thousands of people have been misled by these marketing practices,” said Marc Rachman, the attorney for Oz and Winfrey and companies that manage their images and trademarks, on Friday. “Oprah.com has received e-mail in the thousands from people who believe Oprah and Dr. Oz are affiliated with these products and have endorsed them when they haven’t.”

It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out.  But as most of us know, whether it’s a photo, an advertisement, or an email, once it’s out there on the Internet, it’s pretty much there forever.  So, I would expect to see some of these companies just disappear, leaving a trail of acai, resveratrol, and colon cleansing ads with Oprah’s smiling face scattered across the World Wide Web.

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Bananas, Broccoli, And Gummy Bears

Whole Foods

Sprouts

Fresh Market

These are the names of some our local Dallas “health food” stores.  These are the places to go when you’re looking for the best in fresh fruits and vegetables, premium meats, reputable vitamins and supplements, and other healthy foods and accessories.

Fine wines, a wide variety of trail mixes, and bins of raw legumes and grains are also lined up and down the aisles of these emporiums of healthy living.

But over the last several years, I’ve noticed that there are fewer choices when it comes to picking out trail mixes, fresh nuts, and dried fruits.  Where there used to be bin after bin of healthy snacks and ingredients, there is now bin after bin of…

Gummy Bears, sugar frosted corn flakes, malted milk balls, and other blood sugar spiking, teeth rotting, nutrition corrupting tasty treats.

Yes, junk food and candy are slowly pushing out the health foods from our health food stores.

Not a good trend.

But at least it’s one that is being recognized.

John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and said:

“We sell all kinds of candy.  We sell a bunch of junk.”

Well, in defense of Mackey and other health food store management teams, they are just giving the American public what it wants.

Junk food sells.

As recently as a few years ago, sales of healthy, bulk foods such as grains, seeds, nuts, and beans accounted for 15%-20% of a typical Whole Foods store’s revenues.  That percentage has dropped to less than 1%.

Customers used to walk out with bags of beans, oats, and nuts.  Now they’re waddling out with bags of gumdrops, lemon chews, and candy corn.

Fortunately, Whole Foods is taking a proactive approach in trying to get back to their original mission of providing quality, healthy consumables.  They are implementing plans to  include specialty kiosks in stores, where staff will educate consumers about healthy eating.  In addition, the company is developing programs to encourage store personnel to learn more about nutrition and to adopt healthier lifestyles.

But in the end it comes down to us.  Remember that, or one day your local Fresh Market may change it’s name to Candy Land.

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Government 101 - How To Ram A Bill Down The Throats Of The American Public

Encouraging news out of Philadelphia.

In an attempt to win public support, the Democrats are taking their government run health care pep rally to the streets.

Now first, never forget that the only time the politicians care what we street people think is when they don’t already have enough votes in Congress Castle to get their way. Chasing public support is a last ditch effort to pressure other politicians to jump on the bandwagon.

Well, it appears that this bandwagon is turning into a hearse.

Senator Arlen Specter and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius participated in a town hall meeting in Philadelphia this past Sunday. There, in front of over 400 people, they spoke about the need for health care reform and how the ruling minds in Washington will put out the best plan for the American people.

Of course, there are like fifty proposed plans currently in some stage of review in Congress. And the Senate proposal hasn’t even been written yet. So, it looks like they’ll have plenty of options to choose from.

The key message Specter and Sebelius were delivering is that the system is broken and that any viable solution will require a government run public health care plan to fix things. Needless to say, that message did not receive a warm reception. There were boos. There was yelling. There was rotten fruit being thrown. Okay, I can’t confirm the fruit, but the crowd definitely turned ugly.

Most of the crowd comments ranged from ridiculing the government’s ability to manage a lemonade stand much less health care, to questions as to whether Senator Arlen had even read any of the proposed bills. To which the esteemed Congressman replied that he had aides to do that. That comment really endeared him to the crowd, and almost every comment he made from that point forward was met with boos.

My favorite response from a woman in the crowd:

“I look at this health care plan and I see nothing that is about health or about care. What I see is a bureaucratic nightmare, senator. Medicaid is broke, Medicare is broke, Social Security is broke and you want us to believe that a government that can’t even run a cash for clunkers program is going to run one-seventh of our U.S. economy? No sir, no,” she said.

The American people have spoken.

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Eat Less, Live Longer

It’s fairly well accepted that a healthy diet will increase your chances of living a better life.  Even those people in line at the FatBurger drive-thru have a pretty good idea that what that kid is passing to them in the grease stained bag is not going to earn them any healthy living points.

It turns out that maybe that 3,000 calorie burger, stacked high with cheese, bacon, and mayonnaise, may be slowing you down.  AND speeding you up.

No need for us to rehash the effects of fat laden beef, blood thickening processed cheese, and chock full of cholesterol mayo on the human body.  Over time, this kind of diet will clog us up like a sludge filled crankcase.

But some new studies have shown that it’s not only the makeup of the meal that is unhealthy, but also the calorie count.

A 20 year study involving monkeys and other test animals has shown that if you cut the “normal” caloric intake by 30%, the animals live longer and fend off disease far more effectively than those that maintain a diet at the “recommended” caloric levels.

Scientists have long known that cutting the caloric intake of worms and mice will increase their lifespan, but this 20 years study out of the Wisconsin National Primate Center presents first conclusive evidence the same effects can be attained in primates.

Monkeys provided a nutritious diet at the normal recommended caloric levels were compared to monkeys provided healthy diets at caloric levels 30% below the recommended.  In other words, they ate the same foods but were given portions 30% smaller.  As the monkeys aged, the reduced calorie group showed conclusive evidence of looking healthier, avoiding disease, and maintaining high energy levels as compared to the healthy eating at normal levels group.

Does this carry over to humans?  Early testing says so.  But quite frankly, scientists are having trouble finding human test subjects that are willing to cut their daily caloric intake to 70% of the current daily recommended averages.  Think having to cut out all the fat burgers and other caloric heavy foods and replacing them with lean meat, fruits, grains, and vegetables to get to a normal caloric intake level.

Then cut it by 30% again.

Food for thought.  Or rather, less food for life.

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Resveratrol Supplement Web Scam

Oh, this is just too good. A few days ago I posted about the acai berry supplement scams that have hit the Internet.  But this new one I found just takes the cake.

I want you to click on this link to a site called News13 Direct.  If you don’t feel comfortable going to an unfamiliar site, I’ve also included a screen shot of the site’s front page here.  Or you can just click on the smaller version you see in this post.

Did you look at the site, or the screen capture?  News13 Direct.  Hmm, appears to be the news site for a New York television station.  Look just to the right and under the photos of the anchors.  Yep, says New York, NY.  And look at the menu items.

News. Weather. Sports. Entertainment.

Sure looks like a local television station’s site.  News on the front page.  Sports, business, weather, etc all available by menu.  Of course, I don’t live in New York, but it looks like News13 is one of the city’s local news affiliates.

Let’s check out the headline story on the front page:

“Health Specialist Cathy Diaz Reports On Her Experience Using Resveratrol”

A news report written by the station’s health “specialist”.

The first few lines:

I’m a 35-year-old news veteran, who’s been covering health and wellness news for more than a decade. I admit I can sometimes be jaded and skeptical with an ‘I’ve seen it all attitude.’

When the news director John Beamer asked me to do an investigative report on the nutritional supplement Resveratrol when combined with Dermapril, I had no idea that I would end up as the ’star’ of my own story. But I did!

Apparently this is a news investigation into the nutritional supplement resveratrol.  Resveratrol is the stuff found in red wine that provides healthy antioxidants.  It’s also in the current class of wonder supplements, along with the acai berry, that are supposed to provide “miraculous” anti-aging, weight loss, and cancer prevention benefits.

At first glance, this story appears to be a welcome change from all the hype we see around resveratrol on the Internet.  An actual news investigation by a health “specialist”.  Now maybe we can get some facts around whether resveratrol really works and whether I should be spending my hard earned money on buying it in pill or powder form.

The story goes on, citing multiple “authoritative” sources who rave about the benefits of resveratrol.  The story also includes multiple links to a site ResveratrolUltra.com, where lo and behold, you can get a free trial of this miracle supplement!  How convenient.

Okay, let’s look closer.

Take a look at the top of the News13Direct site (or screen capture).  See there just above the header in really tiny print?  It says “Advertisement“.  But it’s really small and blends into the brown background.

So, our television news site with it’s authentic look and feel, including the requisite airbrushed photos of the on-air personalities, is really a fake.

There is no News13.  There is no health “specialist” Cathy Diaz.  And most importantly, there is no objective or investigatory evidence around what resveratrol is or what, if any, benefits it provides.

Furthermore, the site links back to ResveratrolUltra.com via what is known an affiliate link.  That means someone is making a commission everytime someone clicks on one of those links and actually buys into the ResveratrolUltra free trial program.

Do your homework people.  These guys are getting really sneaky.

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RIP Michael Jackson & Farrah Fawcett And It’s Vacation Time!

Wow!

As much as I hate appearing to jump on the celebrity death bandwagon, it’s hard for me not to comment on the loss of two of the icons of my generation.  Icon.  Means alot of things.  The third definition according to Websters is:

“0ne who is the object of great attention and devotion; an idol”

Based on that definition, it’s clear that Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett were both pretty big icons in their time.  And the circumstances that led up to their deaths couldn’t have been more different.

Farrah was diagnosed with anal cancer some 2-3 years ago at roughly age 59.

‘Anal cancer’

Just typing it makes me shudder.  I mean could there be any other two words where you just don’t want to see them in the same sentence?

Farrah, by all accounts, was still active and living a full life until the disease really took hold.  Playing tennis, jogging, and taking care of herself.  Her early demise is a tragedy.

Then there’s Michael.  His tragedy started long before he collapsed from an apparent drug induced cardiac arrest.  And he died long before his heart gave out last week.  His decline over the last 15 or so years has been painted all over the tabloids, so I have no interest in rehashing his battles with injuries, self-mutilation, identity issues, and drugs.  He was an amazing talent.  Once upon a time.

Rest in peace Michael and Farrah.

_____________________

Vacation time is coming up.  Looking forward to the annual family vacation in Ponte Vidra.  Always fun to see Mom, my brothers, and the nephews and nieces.  Butkus Junior is getting old enough now to start having some real beach fun, so I expect he’ll be out there annoying his cousins while they’re trying to boogie board.

There is a really nice health club in Ponte Vidra that I usually try to get to while we’re down there.   This year though, I think I’m going to resist my addiction to the gym and try and focus on doing my workouts on the beach.  I’ve really gotten into body weight exercise.  The routine I’ve put together pushes me like no weight or machine based workout ever could.  I’m focusing on the whole real world strength aspect and doing exercises that work multiple muscle groups at a time.

Really really effective.

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Barack Tells Congress To Get Off Their Pork-Filled Butts

Barack Obama is apparently not happy with the progress, or lack thereof, that his Legislative Glee Club is making on putting together a health care reform proposal. So, in true “Yes, we can!” form, he has decided to roll up his sleeves and write the thing himself. Well, when he gets back from France anyway.

According to the Associated Press: “The White House, backing away from President Barack Obama’s ‘it’s-all-on-the-table’ approach initially advocated, prepared to get louder and more involved in the details of a health care overhaul that officials once were content to leave to Congress, administration officials said Saturday.”

This certainly explains why Obama has backed off on his campaign promise not to tax health care benefits. Remember when he blasted John McCain for even suggesting that taxing employer paid health coverage payments was a viable option? I think his comment was something to the effect that the last thing the American worker needed was increased taxes.  In the interest of getting some form of reform through before what’s left of his political capital washes away in a sea of spending, he’s leaving all the options open.

So, for those who haven’t been keeping up, let’s see where the health care debate is right now. It’s important to understand the plan options that are being thrown around, especially since the President is bound and determined to have a plan finalized and approved by the end of the year. This means he will need to get something rolling on Capitol Hill before Congress goes off to Summer camp.

To review the issues:

Health care costs: Wayyy too high
Health care quality: Wayyy too low
Americans without health care: 46,000,000
Estimated cost to expand health care coverage to include them: $1.2 trillion greenbacks (over a ten year period)

Do we need reform?  Definitely.  I think most people on both sides of the political fence would agree that our health care system is bloated and broken.  The debate rages around the measures that need to be taken to fix it.

The two primary points of contention?

One, should health care coverage be mandatory for all Americans? Why make insurance coverage mandatory?  Why should I care if you have insurance coverage or not?  Because if you don’t have coverage and get hospitalized, you may not be able to pay your medical costs.  You will default on them and they will be passed on to me in the form of taxes and/or an increase in my medical coverage premiums.  So coverage for all reduces costs for all.

Obama was against this during the campaign.  It was a Hillary rallying cry that Barack opposed in favor of a more incremental approach where coverage would first be mandatory for children only.  I believe his opposition was more of a pragmatic “there’s no way we could make this happen immediately” than a disagreement over an ultimate goal.

Well, now he appears to be open to this requirement, which is being promoted by Democratics and some Republicans in both sides of the house, being made a part of the initial bill.  Again remember, goal number one for Obama is to get a health care reform bill passed this year.  Therefore, compromise where necessary.  He does mandate that a “hardship” exclusion be a part of the bill which would exempt certain people unable to afford the cost of coverage.  What constitutes a “hardship” is an open question.

The trick is that to make health care coverage mandatory, alot of work will have to be done to clean up the existing medical system to reduce the waste and inefficencies that have resulted in the upward spiral in treatment costs.  Reduce treatment costs and presumably you reduce the cost of providing coverage for them.

There also would need to be a clear understanding of what mandatory coverage includes?  Presumably some baseline for the minimum accepted coverage levels would be defined.  But again, until there is reform in the medical treatment system that reduces waste and costs, trying to enforce mandatory coverage is putting the cart before the horse.

The other main point of contention in the battle to put a health care reform bill together is whether the bill should include the formation of a government-run public insurer agency.  This agency would serve to, theoretically, provide a low-cost alternative to the private insurance that is typically subsidized by employers.  This would not be a totally new role for the government, as it already does such a *great* job running Medicare and Medicaid.

There are obvious reasons why most Republicans and many of the moderate Democrats are against this.  It’s anti-business.  A government managed health insurer would have the leverage to force doctors, hospitals, big pharma, and other players in the game of medicine, to cut costs.  A good thing, right?  Usually.

But what has happened with Medicare, is that all the government cost cutting has led to a significant reduction in the quality of medical care for those who are covered.

The health insurance industry, with the backing of the pharm companies, is lobbying really hard against the formation of a government-run public insurer agency.  This is purely in their best interest.  They don’t want to be in competition with the government.  From a cost standpoint, it’s a war they will not win.  Not when the government can strong arm the medical field into cutting costs and even subsidize coverage costs with taxes.  Definitely an unlevel playing field.

Health insurers are fighting back.  They state that “a public plan won’t be needed if reformers successfully expand coverage to the uninsured through mandated insurance and guaranteed issuance of policies, find ways to control medical costs, prohibit exclusions for pre-existing conditions, and provide subsidies to help people afford coverage.”

So, it would appear that due to Obama’s pushing, health care reform is coming.   At this point it really seems to boil down to a race between the existing insurer industry and the government to create a proposal that is palatable to the populace.

I really have little faith that the insurers can band together and create a package that will force them to clean up their own act by reducing costs, expand coverage to the uninsured, and upgrade the quality of care provided.  Especially when they’re up against a current administration and Congress that has shown a willingness, and even an enthusiasm, for throwing buckets and buckets of money at a problem.

We’ll get a public health insurance agency of some type.  And we’ll be paying through the nose for it.

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Before You Pop That Vitamin In Your Mouth…

Interesting study results coming out of Germany.

A group of scientists in Hamburg have determined that athletes that take vitamins after a cardio workout may be reversing the primary benefits of their exercise efforts. Specifically, taking in supplemental doses of the antioxidant vitamins C and E soon after an exercise session appears to hamper a critical byproduct of exercise - the body’s natural ability to improve energy regulation.

How?

First a little refresher in body chemistry.

Intense cardio activity enhances the body’s sensitivity to the hormone insulin. This allows the body to more efficiently govern cellular use of sugar as an energy source. In other words, as you are pumping the pedals or cranking on the treadmill, the body adapts to the pace and becomes better at managing sugar levels in the blood to keep the energy flowing.

This ability to manage glucose levels in the blood is one of the more critical functions in the body.  In fact, Type 2 diabetes actually develops when the body becomes less sensitive to insulin levels and thus unable to effectively manage blood sugar levels.

Now, a quick lesson in antioxidants and free radicals.

Antioxidants occur naturally in the body and serve to neutralize the destructive “free radicals” that are responsible for, among other things, the external cellular damage associated with premature aging, sun damage, and muscle tone deterioration. These free radicals are a byproduct of our metabolism and thus are produced in larger quantities during periods of intense exercise when our metabolism is working at accelerated levels.

Antioxidants good, free radicals bad, right? Not entirely.

Turns out that scientists now believe that these oxygen free radicals, in addition to the destructive cellular reactions they generate, also increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin. Again, the more sensitive the body is to insulin levels in the blood, the better it can manage blood sugar - i.e. energy levels. Type 2 diabetes is a disease directly linked with a body that is unable to manage these sugar levels due to a lack of insulin sensitivity.

Antioxidants destroy free radicals. So, free radicals good, antioxidants bad? Nope. It’s all about balance. In a perfect world, an optimally performing body should maintain a healthy balance between free radical and antioxidant levels.

What we are learning, is that taking in antioxidant supplements right after exercise will offset that balance by over-neutralizing the free radicals produced by cardio exertion before they can work to benefit our blood sugar management system.

In addition, by throwing an excess of artificial antioxidants into the body, we are potentially weakening the body’s own ability to naturally produce them. This leads to a weakening of the exercise induced free radical defense system, which depends on naturally produced antioxidants.

Dr Michael Ristow and colleagues from the University of Jena in Germany wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: “We find that antioxidant supplements prevent the induction of molecular regulators of insulin sensitivity and endogenous antioxidant defence by physical exercise.”

Now, I do firmly believe that there is a place for antioxidants in a supplement regimen. Especially as we get older and our body begins to lose the cellular war between antioxidants and the age accelerating free radicals.

But this latest study does contribute to the increasingly compelling argument that vitamins and supplements can have complex, yet to be discovered, and potentially damaging effects on the body.

Something to remember when you grab that bottle of mega-dose nutritional vitamin or supplement formula.

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