Jim Goetz

Listening to a very popular biohacking podcast each week, I hear the host talking about his, "extremely expensive urine". What he is eluding to is the amount of vitamins, minerals, herbs and the like are not being absorbed into his body and therefore being excreted out in his urine. Why would anyone wish to do this? Why would one want to take their hard earned money and simply waste it? Personally, this author has no idea. Take a look at 95% of people who have a gym membership. They pay for their membership each month. Whether they show up or not is another story. The same concept goes with supplements. Many people fall prey to phenomenal marketing or stories written stating some vitamin provides a miracle cure. In looking for this "silver bullet" (there is none), people take too many vitamins and the youthful are no better than the elderly who take over a dozen pills each day. (One pill for x, another pill to counteract the side effects of that pill, and so forth).Each year, countless hopeful individuals shell out literally billions of dollars on antioxidant supplements (nearly $2 billion, in fact, just on beta carotene and vitamins C and E alone- as Americans consume over 50 billion multivitamins and mineral tablets per year). This is done with the belief that they will lower their risk of cancer, heart disease, and the loss of memory and even stave off illness or reduce the time frame of an illness. But wait!?!? Aren't mass does of anti-oxidants supposed to help? Let's get into the nitty gritty.People take anti-oxidants as it is believe oxidation is bad and individuals look to prevent this from occurring within themselves. An example of oxidation would be leaving a nail outdoors. Over time, the nail turns to rust. This is due to an event known as, "oxidation". It would be crazy to think though that the element we need most to survive (oxygen) would also be that of our demise.In 2007, a review of 47 randomized controlled trials, totaling 181,000 subjects, found that antioxidants increased mortality by 5%. Beta carotene was found to increase risk of mortality by 7%, vitamin A by 16% and vitamin E by 4% (vitamin C has no significant effect on mortality. The crazy thing about these statistics is that anti oxidants are heralded to this day as the anti-aging miracle cure! In reality, these particular anti oxidants are reducing ones life span!!!Our bodies attempt to remain in a constant state of homeostasis. Quite simply, this means our body wishes to regulate oxidative stress. A simple way to understand this is by comparing it to emotional stress. When we are overwhelmed too quickly, we crumble. Over time though, we adapt to stress levels that are not so stressful anymore. We have adapted. Our bodies to the exact same thing. By adding large doses of anti oxidants to our system, we are throwing it off kilter just as if we ingested a large amount of toxins all at the same time.When we exercise, we actually dramatically increase free- radical production in our bodies. However, these free radicals actually help the body to adapt to exercise. Many once believed that due to this increase in free- radical production, one should take anti oxidants to combat this. Quite the contrary has been discovered in that taking antioxidant supplements reduces exercise capacity and interferes with the benefits of exercise such as insulin sensitivity and boosting our resistance to disease. Do not get me wrong in saying all antioxidants are bad. High dose antioxidant supplements are far different from the physiological levels of antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables. While antioxidant supplements may not be as beneficial as once believed (before reading this article), eating vegetables and fruit in moderation is a very good idea.Before going to the fun part and seeing what each antioxidant truly does and does not do, it's important to know what free radicals are. It's time to go back to high school chemistry!!!What is a Free