Less clear is the effect of antioxidant supple-mentation on health. Although research is ongoing, recent large-scale, randomized clini¬cal trials have reached inconsistent conclu¬sions. In five separate clinical trials that studied the effects of antioxidants supplements on cancer in the last decade, results ranged from a reduced incidence of gastric cancer, to a possible increase in lung cancer rate associated with antioxidant intake.
Recently the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force scrutinized more than two dozen of the latest studies on the use of antioxidants to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease and published its findings. The data led the lead researcher to conclude that people taking antioxidant supplements for the sole purpose of preventing heart disease or cancer "are basically creating expensive urine." Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic foundation carried out a study of studies that had examined the relationship between cardiovas¬cular disease and antioxidant vitamins. They pooled the results and found that vitamin E provided no benefits to people suffering from car-diovascular disease and that beta carotene supplements actually increased the risk slightly.
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