Thursday, November 20th, 2008
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Topic of the week: How to keep children from obsessing over their appearance

By Mara Levy Published: 2007-12-10 19:54
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By Erin Donnelly
Published: Sunday, January 6, 2008 - 16:42

The good news: More and more consumers are racing to get their hands on dietary supplements and plant-based antioxidants (take that, McDonald's!). The bad news: The demand is so great that it has "outpaced scientific knowledge on the actual health benefits, best dosages, and risks of those phytochemicals," says ScienceDaily.

The science community, including ACS Molecular Pharmaceutics guest editor Ming Hu, who demanded "a call to arms" for more research, is now adamant that further studies must be conducted on these antioxidants in order to ensure the health and wellbeing of consumers. Hu noted that many of the past studies on antioxidants have involved animals and not humans, leaving the door open for unforeseen risks and side effects.

Though antioxidants and phytochemicals have been found to offer myriad health benefits, scientists are apprehensive about their widespread use until more in-depth research can be done. The fear is that by leaping on the antioxidant bandwagon, consumers may unwittingly be exposing themselves to health issues.

This means that you may want to postpone that green tea kegger indefinitely.