Stop thinking about antioxidants!

I’m No Expert, But…

Did you hear the news? You can now stop thinking about antioxidants. Forget all about them. That’s the advice of “experts,” according to a recent Associated Press (AP) article.

The article is titled “Experts Urge Less Focus on Antioxidants” and it starts off with this question: “Tired of trying to keep track of all the so-called superfoods you’re supposed to eat?”

The question assumes that our poor, non-expert brains are exhausted from the demands of thinking too much about health and nutrition. Oh if only we had a bunch of experts who could give us some overly simplistic advice!

Got blueberries?

Let’s pretend that consumers have heard so much about the health benefits of antioxidants that we’ve all gone antioxidant crazy. That’s the opening premise of the AP article. For instance, it seems that jam sales are down, BUT sales of blueberry preserves are UP! This is offered as evidence that consumers have fallen under the spell of the media buzz about antioxidants. The result: We’re all eating blueberry preserves like crazy, apparently.

But according to the AP article, this isn’t good. We’re told that experts don’t yet know enough about how antioxidants work to rationalize a diet that puts a focus on antioxidant-rich foods. And at this point I guess the article is talking about people who have gone on some kind of all-blueberry-preserve diet. Folks on this diet are easy to spot. They often have messy blueberry preserve mustaches.

One of the experts “worries” (poor dear) that the hype about antioxidants is giving consumers a false sense of security. He offers an example: You eat a handful of almonds because you’ve heard it’s good for your heart. But – he points out – that handful isn’t going to make up for a diet laden with saturated fat.

Uh who said it would? And is that a good reason to NOT eat almonds? They are, after all, good for your heart.

Pretty little head

Then something surprising happens. About halfway through the article we come upon this question: “So how should people work antioxidants into their diets?”

How’s that again? Didn’t the experts just tell us to not focus our dietary choices on antioxidants? So what does this mean – that antioxidants are actually good? Didn’t the experts just tell us that not enough is known about how they work?

The article answers its own question about getting antioxidants into diets with this advice: Think big picture. Eat a variety of produce and whole grains, says one expert. And that’s actually a good idea. In fact, if you had suddenly gone antioxidant crazy and wanted to focus your diet on antioxidant intake, that’s exactly what you’d be eating.

The article concludes with this “bottom line” advice: Strive for a balanced diet “and don’t get hung up on the particulars.”

In other words, we shouldn’t worry our pretty little heads about things we couldn’t possibly understand. Leave that to the experts.

Sources:
“Experts Urge Less Focus on Antioxidants” J.M. Hirsch, Associated Press, 12/11/05, ap.org