Could taking anti-oxidants really eliminate exercise health improvement ?

Taking anti-oxidants makes exercise a waste of time !

Can this really be true ?

German researcher Michael Ristow makes this bold claim in the paper published this week - "Antioxidants prevent health-promoting effects of physical exercise in humans". The paper is only 6 pages long, well written and fairly easy to read.

A few words of caution: in this research, health-promoting effects are simplified to decrease in insulin resistance. The paper, while excellent, is typical of most published research on exercise and health in that they are afflicted by the 3 S's.

1. SHORT time period over which the research is carried out. In this case 4 weeks. 
2. SMALL number of participants. In this case 40 (1 dropped out leaving 39).
3. SCANT information about the people participating in the research study. What was their general health; what else were they doing while the study was ongoing.

What is very different about Ristow's point of view is that he views the production of Reactive Oxygen Species [ROS] in the muscle mitochondria and the body's subsequent reaction to control them as being a promoter of good health (and probably a long healthy life). 

Until now everyone else has thought of Reactive Oxygen Species as dangerous and needed to be snuffed out as soon as possible using anti-oxidants. 

This statement from the Linus Pauling 

Institute summarizes the usual position on Reactive Oxygen Species: 

Antioxidants, both enzymatic and non-enzymatic, limit oxidative damage to biological molecules by various mechanisms. Dietary antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, significantly contribute to antioxidant defense systems in humans and may help protect us from certain age-related degenerative diseases.

Of course we all get antioxidants from food. Lots of fresh vegetables and plants are the best source. Nature is rich in antioxidants, there are probably at least a million different molecules with antioxidant properties. 

What exactly did Ristow do in the research ? 

He took 40 healthy men (25 to 25 years) and divided them into 4 groups;

1. Exercise program on trained fit men plus antioxidants
2. Exercise program on trained fit men but NO antioxidants
3. Exercise program on previously untrained men plus antioxidants supplements
4. Exercise program on previously untrained man but NO antioxidants.

Before and afterwards he measured:

• insulin sensitivity
  
• formation of Reactive Oxygen Species in the muscles by measuring the concentration of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance.

What he showed was that in both the fit, previously trained men and the unfit, not working out men, taking antioxidants (Vitamin C and Vitamin E) stopped improvement in insulin sensitivity. The clearness by which antioxidants stopped the improvement is both amazing and surprising.

Not surprisingly the nutritional industry has not taken this research too kindly at all. 

Alexander Schauss was quoted “The primary objective of this study was to study the effect of a 4-week intensive 5-days a week exercise program on insulin sensitivity. Yet the title of the paper leads one to believe otherwise,” he said.

“This is a small gender-biased study of 40 male subjects, 25 to 35 years of age. When I read through the study for the first time I had to wonder how could the authors have come up with such a title for their paper?” 

More of the same !

However for some time the nutraceutical industry has wondered whether antioxidants really did live up to the marketing claims.

So finally, should one give up on taking antioxidant supplements ?

A good question deserves another good question !

1. Are you exercising hard and eating a range of fruits and vegetables? If you believe this research then no to antioxidant supplements.
2. Are you exercising hard but eating poorly ? Safer to get antioxidants from supplements rather than none at all.
3. Not exercising hardly at all but eating poorly ? Probably safer to take a supplement.
4. Not exercising much but eating nutritiously ? No need for antioxidants.