Hey California - time to start labeling another product as cancerous...

[Red Squirrel]

I don't know if I'd want to live there, but it would be a nice place to visit to get a break from winter. That and Florida. I think there's a bigger chance of getting shot in Florida though if you wander off the resorts.

 

[yhelothar]

Actually you're the one moving the goalposts. The original claim was that a diet of fruits and vegetables that contains antioxidants is shown to prevent cancer. You moved the goal post to showing that specific applications of antioxidants having noticeable effects on cancer rates. I've already stated that supplements can have a vastly different outcome than eating whole fruits and vegetables. You chose to ignore it.

It's been shown that oxidative stress leads to damage of DNA, which can lead to cell division errors given that the process of cell cycling depends the proper functioning of an entire ensemble of proteins that are created from the genetic code. A disruption of any one of those growth or inhibitor molecules can lead to a disruption in the cell cycling process. Antioxidants clear up oxidative stress to reduce the damage of DNA and thus prevent the cell division errors.

On the other hand, it's also postulated that oxidative stress is also an important mechanism to kill faulty cells and that too much antioxidants can lead to too little oxidation to kill cancer cells. There are multiple mechanisms at play here that can lead to numerous outcomes with different applications of antioxidants. It's very possible that natural doses and blends of antioxidants found in a diet of fruits and vegetables can have a very different outcome from a high dose of a single purified antioxidant applied as a supplement.

It's a common problem given the complexity of biological systems that make trying to understand it a problem of the blind men trying to understand what an elephant is by touching it.

It's easy to touch the trunk and proclaim the elephant is a snake while arguing with someone else who's touched the ear and declared the elephant is like a fan.

With that said, the whole issue of antioxidants and cancer isn't even the main point I made in my original post. The main point is that food contains a variety of active compounds that each play a role in maintaining some system in our body, many that we do not yet understand, especially given the complexity of biological systems. Thus identifying a few and making supplements on them isn't a replacement for proper nutrition.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Starting next month bananas have to have the label applied due to the natural radioactive potassium in bananas.

 

[Guurn]

Starting next month bananas have to have the label applied due to the natural radioactive potassium in bananas.

Mmmm delicious radiation hormesis.

 

[Ichinisan]

I don't know if I'd want to live there, but it would be a nice place to visit to get a break from winter. That and Florida. I think there's a bigger chance of getting shot in Florida though if you wander off the resorts.

You know that's bullshit, right? You're falling for a misleading narrative from the media. Though Florida is recently notorious for crazy shit, it is not particularly known for gun crimes. There's just one particularly notorious incident of self defense that has been misrepresented and is tainting your perception. Lots of states have so-called "stand your ground" laws.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Dietary supplements shown to increase cancer risk.

Older research: people who eat lots of veggies and fruits had a lower incidence of cancer. So, they thought, "let's see how much taking all those healthy vitamins and minerals help. I'll bet they also lower the risk of cancer." And...

They didn't. In fact, they're associated with an increased risk.

So, I expect to see on a bottle of Flintstones Chewables: "warning, this product is known to the state of California to increase the risk of cancer."



edit: ooops, forgot link: http://www.newswise.com/articles/die...se-cancer-risk

From the very second you are conceived you are dying!! Go figure that one out....

 

[Gibsons]

I'm puzzled by your two statements.

I'll just put this here:
http://www.nature.com/news/antioxidants-speed-cancer-in-mice-1.14606

and this:
http://www.livescience.com/46927-antioxidant-supplements-cancer.html

I'll bet Dr. Oz hasn't been talking about this.

 

[Jeff7]

I'll bet Dr. Oz hasn't been talking about this.

If he's good, he'll start hawking some garbage pill to counter the bad effects, and improve the positive attributes by up to 200%.

 

[mrrman]

everything causes cancer. walked into a coffee bean and ran into cancer warnings.

Yeah...where does it end???

 

[norseamd]

You know that's bullshit, right? You're falling for a misleading narrative from the media. Though Florida is recently notorious for crazy shit, it is not particularly known for gun crimes. There's just one particularly notorious incident of self defense that has been misrepresented and is tainting your perception. Lots of states have so-called "stand your ground" laws.

Probably this. Basically look at for poisonous or dangerous wildlife and stay out of downtown Miami and shit and you will probably not die. I have relatives down there and it would be nice to go visit them sometime.

 

[norseamd]

You know I was going to raise the question of James Watson talking about how antioxidants are bad for you but I went and took a look and that is not what he said. The headlines are basically using this to their advantage for pageviews and ad revenue. He did not say that antioxidants were bad for you only that they are like any other nutrient and there can be problems with too high of consumption of antioxidants.

 

[norseamd]

As opposed to the drugs that are "monitored" by the FDA but really get waived through to production so long as the pharma sponsored study has a good looking power-point and the check from them clears?

This.

 

[zinfamous]

I think there's a bigger chance of getting shot in Florida though if you wander off the resorts.

Are you confusing Florida with Mexico?

 

[Dirigible]

Are you confusing Florida with Mexico?

Nope. Sounds like Florida to me.




Shush! Don't ruin Red Squirrel's worldview with facts. He is delightful just how he is.

 

[zinfamous]

*cough*water

..overrated! (but seriously, "somewhere habitable" meant: "anywhere that is not perpetually frozen." I didn't mean move to a specific place, just move away from that place)

 

[Red Squirrel]

Are you confusing Florida with Mexico?

I hear Mexico is pretty bad too, probably worse.