Antioxidants Are Bullshit for the Same Reason Eggs Are Healthy
Remember back when eggs were unhealthy? That same mistake is now fueling the antioxidant craze — don’t be suckered.
Do you remember the red wine craze, back in the second half of 2006 and early 2007?
A small pilot study suggested that resveratrol, a compound found in wine, may help prolong lifespan in mice. Now, all it takes is a quick scan of the study to find a whole handful of red flags:
- Humans are not mice, and many observations in mouse models end up not happening in humans.
- This was a small study and larger meta-analyses have failed to replicate its effects.
- Perhaps most importantly is the dosage: the amount of resveratrol consumed by these mice is equivalent to drinking multiple hundreds of glasses per day of red wine, or popping dozens of supplement pills.
Despite these shortcomings, the study was widely publicized, and the public went crazy. Resveratrol was featured on Oprah’s television show, and endorsed by Dr. Oz. (One company used this for its marketing strategy, and was later sued by Oprah and Dr. Oz for falsely claiming that their specific product received an endorsement.)
Red wine started flying off the shelves, even though, as mentioned above, no one can conceivably…
