Food supplements with antioxidant effects are not suitable for the prevention of cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Too high doses of the antioxidants Vitamin A, E, as well as Beta carotene, can even shorten life expectancy. 

Studies On The Long-Term Use of Antioxidants 

The Cochrane Collaboration needed to know whether taking dietary supplements daily had any health benefits or drawbacks. They tried to see how vitamins and nutrients could help people live better and longer. 

Researchers conducted 78 studies on this subject, involving nearly 300,000 adults in total. This was a decent starting point for using antioxidants to score. 

The majority of research participants consume one or more courses of antioxidants every day stated on the sticker printing lable, while a few others were given a placebo (dummy medication).

At the outset of the research, most of the participants were in good health. A quarter of them has already suffered from liver, intestinvitamin e, pulse, skin, or kidney problems. 

The majority of the patients consumes antioxidants in the following amounts daily: 

  • 60 to 2000 mg of C 
  • 1.2 to 50 mg beta carotene 
  • 10 to 5000 IU vitamin E (international units) 
  • 1333 to 25,000 IU of vitamin A 
  • 20 to 200 micrograms of selenium 

There were typically significantly larger doses a day than what you'd receive from a well-balanced diet. 

The majority of the patients take multivitamin vitamins in high doses. The experiments lasted an average of just under 3 years, with others lasting up to 12 years.