Don't fall for phony headlines.

The media loves big stories, and the latest massive efforts from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies have all the makings for great headlines: "Large Amounts of Antioxidants Not Needed for Health." "No Scientific Evidence that Supplements of Vitamins C, E, and Selenium Necessary." As is always the case, you need to put on your thinking cap when reading the health headlines in order to avoid confusion. What the panel of illustrious scholars has in fact concluded is exactly what Running & FitNews has been reporting for years: eat your vegetables--don't pop pills.

Popular supplements like beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and other antioxidants are not needed in a healthy diet. Even more important, if your diet falls short of these important nutrients, supplementing with pills may actually create significant health risks. While the nutrients themselves in their natural form are extremely important, pill form antioxidants are a waste of money--lots of money. Vitamin supplements amount to $5.7 billion in sales annually.

Antioxidants are a relatively large group of nutrients that help to disarm free radicals in the body. Free radicals are unstable oxygen and nitrogen compounds that are missing electrons, and they have been associated with the initiation of diseases like cancer, heart disease, wrinkles, cataracts, and atherosclerosis. These free radicals attack healthy cells looking for their missing electron. The fact that diets rich in natural sources of antioxidants are associated with reduced incidence of disease, led people to believe (and supplement companies to profit from) the idea that pill-form antioxidants would go even further to reduce disease. Scientific evidence, however, has never supported that theory, and it continues to support the benefits of a diet with a large amount and variety of fruits and vegetables.

So don't be misled into believing that fruits and vegetables have been over-rated. While "eat your veggies" is not much of a sexy headline, it is the bottom line. Load up your grocery cart, your garden, and your plate, and don't be tempted by the claims made by the supplement companies or confused by misleading headlines. (The National Academies, April 10, 2000. For more info go to www.nationacademies.org/news, www eatright.org. or www.americanrunning.org/webarticles/fluids_nutrition/nutrition_ health/vitminerals.htm)