Free Radicals, pro and con

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Please post further discussion in the Health Group.

While antioxidants have been the subjects of epidemiological studies, such studies do not provide much in the way of mechanistic explanation of any effects observed. Thus the matter of the benefits, or otherwise, of deliberate medication with antioxidants before the evidence is fully analyzed is at present one of judgment and/or policy, and is more appropriately discussed under Health.

It is certainly true that touting the benefits of antioxidants has been overhyped, and become something of a fad in some quarters, but this only came about *after* some studies suggested AOs were beneficial in some respects. It was, of course, a matter of no time at all before AOs were being touted as "cures" for everything from cancer to aging to impotence. Hopefully, after more studies are in, the pendulum will swing back the other way, in the usual fashion.