Antioxidant supplementation:
- elevated pre-exercise plasma vitamin C and vitamin E concentrations
- Vitamin C & E supplementation also affected serum cortisol concentrations, with an attenuated increase from baseline to the peak values reached after 1 h of recovery compared with the placebo group (P = 0.02) and serum interleukin-6 concentrations were higher after 1 h of recovery in the antioxidant group (11.3 ± 3.4 pg ml(-1)) than the placebo group (6.2 ± 3.8 pg ml(-1); P = 0.05).
- Combined vitamin C & E supplementation neither reduced markers of oxidative stress or inflammation nor did it facilitate recovery of muscle function after exercise-induced muscle damage.
9 comments:
It seems to depend on the age of the subjects. For younger people it seems that Vitamin C is not useful as an ergogenic aid..
I think long term trials are inconclusive. I tend to side with the idea that a good diet should provide things in balance.
When I took a vitamin K complex, my energy decreased, and I was tired throughout the days. Of course, the amount of K2 in a [Life Extension brand] pill is ridiculously high compared to what one can get with natural food sources--the same pretty much goes for vitamin E and C.
For example, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8512476 perhaps shows that vitamin E reduces A transport, as it also increases liver concentraion of A. A good diet should provide proper balance.
I really like the logic in this quote from Dr. John Ioannidis:
"... But even if a study managed to highlight a genuine health connection to some nutrient, you’re unlikely to benefit much from taking more of it, because we consume thousands of nutrients that act together as a sort of network, and changing intake of just one of them is bound to cause ripples throughout the network that are far too complex for these studies to detect, and that may be as likely to harm you as help you. Even if changing that one factor does bring on the claimed improvement, there’s still a good chance that it won’t do you much good in the long run, because these studies rarely go on long enough to track the decades-long course of disease and ultimately death. Instead, they track easily measurable health “markers” such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and blood-sugar levels, and meta-experts have shown that changes in these markers often don’t correlate as well with long-term health as we have been led to believe."
So, personally I skip 'em.
Antioxidant supplementation has been shown to create expensive pee.
They aren't exactly "primal" either, now are they : ) I'm sure paleo dude didn't often meet the recommended daily requirements and, of course, he was the epitome of robust health.
Eat well and don't worry about it.
I take nothing.
Bill
I have observed you rise up, keep in mind you were chatting on that television station and that man in America consideration you were truly pretty. Thanks ;)
I know the evidence is conflicting as hell but I take vit E because Dr Eades recommends it and I've decided he's a lot smarter than me. Vit C occasionally. I'd prefer to eat berries but that's not an option available here.
Note also this study
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2680430/
story about it here
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/phys-ed-free-the-free-radicals
It shows that anti-oxidant supplements for athletes suppress the body's own free radical fighting adaptations.
I've noticed a couple of things with regards to C and E.
A few years ago I took high dose fish oil, for menstrual and joint inflammation, after about 3 months it didn't seem to work so well. A nutritionist pointed out that without enough C and E omega 3 oxidises and becomes ineffective. I added both and within a week problem solved. I've heard this same story from others. And Andrew Stoll writes about it in 'The Omega 3 Connection'
The other thing is if you take too much, grazes and cuts are more easily infected as you need some oxidants to attack infection.
I didn't know that combined vitamin C and E reduced markers of oxidative stress. Thanks for the information.
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