Problems With Consuming Too Many Antioxidants

Relatively strong reducing acids can have anti-nutritional effects by binding to dietary minerals in the gastrointestinal tract and preventing them from being absorbed. Notable examples are oxalic acid and phytic acid, which are high in plant-based diets. Some tannins also have this negative characteristic. Calcium and iron deficiencies are not uncommon in Eastern diets where there is high consumption of phytic acid present in beans and unleavened whole grain bread. These anti-nutrients can result in deceptively high oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) ratings given to various “healthy” beverages and foods, particularly:

Foods	Reducing acid
Cocoa and chocolate, spinach, and berries	Oxalic acid
Whole grains, maize	Phytic acid
Tea	Tannins

Other extremely powerful nonpolar antioxidants such as eugenol also happen to have toxicity limits that can easily be exceeded with the misuse of essential oils.

While antioxidants supplementation is widely hypothesized to prevent the development of cancer, antioxidants may, paradoxically, interfere with cancer treatments. One explanation for this effect is that the growth-promoting environment of cancer cells leads to high levels of redox stress under baseline conditions, and this makes cancer cells more susceptible than normal cells to the further stress of chemotherapy or radiation therapy. So by reducing the redox stress in cancer cells, antioxidant supplements could decrease the effectiveness of the therapy designed to kill them.

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