Too Many Antioxidants Can Hurt the Liver and Even Lead to Cancer

Summary

Excessive consumption of antioxidants, particularly through green tea and its extracts, can lead to liver damage and potentially increase the risk of cancer, contrary to the popular belief that antioxidants are always beneficial to health.

Abstract

The article discusses the potential risks associated with high intake of antioxidants, focusing on green tea as a case study. It cites medical reports of individuals who experienced severe health issues, such as acute hepatitis and liver failure, after consuming green tea or its extracts in an attempt to improve health or lose weight. The author emphasizes that even natural supplements can be harmful if taken in large quantities, as they may disrupt the body's balance of free radicals and antioxidants, which is crucial for a well-functioning immune system. While antioxidants are generally considered healthy, the article advises that it's important to consume them in moderation and primarily through food sources rather than supplements, which can contain concentrated doses up to fifty times higher than natural occurrences. The author encourages readers to consider their supplement intake carefully, opt for dietary sources of antioxidants, and explore alternative health-boosting activities like exercise and stress management.

Opinions

The author suggests that health-conscious individuals may be unaware of the potential dangers of overconsuming antioxidants, particularly in the form of supplements.
There is an opinion that the body requires a delicate balance between free radicals and antioxidants, and disrupting this balance can compromise the immune system.
The article expresses that while green tea is often associated with health benefits, it can cause liver injury when consumed in excess or in the form of concentrated extracts.
The author implies that the popularity of antioxidant supplements, especially in the 1990s, may have been based on incomplete understanding, as the body needs a certain level of free radicals to function properly.
It is the author's view that supplements should not replace a balanced diet and that natural food sources are a safer way to obtain antioxidants.
The author advocates for a cautious approach to supplementation, recommending that individuals consult healthcare professionals before starting any new health regimen.
The article conveys a personal stance that lifestyle changes, such as exercise and stress reduction, can be effective alternatives to high-dose antioxidant supplementation for maintaining health.

Too Many Antioxidants Can Hurt the Liver and Even Lead to Cancer

Green tea made with loose tea leaves (lots of them!) (Image by apple deng from Pixabay)

Like many health-conscious people whose health is not perfect, I rely on certain natural supplements to keep me healthier and give me more energy. I thought I wasn’t overdoing it until I read that even a cup of green tea a day can be too much for some people predisposed to anemia because green tea interferes with the absorption of iron.

And there’s more. In 2015 a medical case report was published about a sixteen-year-old girl from the UK who actually got herself acute hepatitis after drinking three cups of green tea (probably mixed with something else) every day for three months in order to lose weight.

And in 2014, a fifty-year-old man from the UK, who took green tea supplements to better his general health and avoid the fate of his father, who had died at fifty-nine of a heart attack, ended up in hospital with liver failure, needing a transplant within days, after only two or three months of taking that green tea extract. He got lucky and had that transplant, but his health is not the best, whereas before, it was pretty okay.

In the past three decades, some 200 cases of liver injury due to intake of green tea (green tea extracts, mostly), sometimes leading to liver transplant, have been documented in scientific journals. True, again, in the vast majority of cases, the culprit is usually not pure green tea drunk in moderation but green tea capsules, but still, there have been several well-known cases with liver toxicity from both green tea beverages and extracts, so it’s well worth it to be careful with this and other herbal supplements, as the author of one of my source articles for the above cases argues.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is intended for general informational and educational purposes only. By using this article you expressly agree that you do so at your sole risk. I am not a medical or health practitioner, and no part of this article, or the articles, websites, and products I mention and link to, is intended as professional medical or health advice and should not be considered as such. Consult with your doctor(s) about starting any course of treatment, taking any supplements, or changing any (dietary, exercise, etc.) routines. Note that natural supplements and even some foods may interfere with certain medications. Also ask your doctor(s) about potential allergies you may have, including cross-reactive allergies. Some allergens can cause anaphylaxis.

I only take a few choice supplements, and in rotation at that, but lately, I’ve been having a persistent cold — light symptoms but taking way too long — and I began taking more supplements in order to help fight it.

Then I started looking into things more. And it turns out that too much of a good thing is a bad thing — as it usually happens — and that if you neutralize too many free radicals, your immune system can get compromised by not having enough of them to fight infections.

The idea behind getting loads of antioxidants, popularized wildly in the 1990s, had been that you need to pair up free electrons before they lead to cancer, other diseases, or hastened aging, but the body does, in fact, require a certain balance between free radicals and antioxidants.

And if we get antioxidants, we should try to take them mainly from food, as natural supplements can concentrate antioxidant levels up to fifty times what we find in food. And that can actually lead to cancers instead of preventing them.

The idea, then, is to be careful. My take on all this data at this point is to consider the total amounts of milligrams my natural supplements add up to, mindful of what exactly those milligrams measure and how they compare to what I could get from food.

Of course, given the pollution in Bucharest, sometimes I think I should make sure I take enough remedies to combat it, but still, there are other ways to strengthen our bodies as well, for instance, through exercise or fighting stress.

I hope this article gave you a few things to think about.

Thank you for your support!

To a happier, healthier life,

Mira

A version of this article was originally published at http://happierhealthier.blog on January 30, 2022.