From sweet potatoes to blueberries and from lentils to broccoli, super foods have been for long hailed for their age-defying effects, but a new research has found that too much of the food can impair muscle function.
According to the scientists at Kansas State University in the U.S., the nutrients balance required by the body is affected by stuffing it with full of the antioxidants contained in super foods.
“Too much of the super foods could mean there are not enough ‘pro-oxidants’ — usually considered the evil twin of antioxidants — in the body,” said the researchers.
“I think what a lot of people don’t realise is that the antioxidant and pro-oxidant balance is really delicate,” said lead researcher Steven Copp.
While the antioxidants slow down the damage to muscles and other organs by the process known as oxidisation, the pro-oxidants speed it up.
But too many antioxidants tilt the balance and make it harder to breathe. It also prevents one from doing exercises that could help stay fit, according to the study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
“One of the things we’ve seen in our research is that one can not just give a larger dose of antioxidants and presume that there will be some sort of beneficial effect. In fact, it can actually make a problem worse,” Copp added.
For the research, Copp and his team tested different doses of antioxidants on animals.
They observed impaired muscle function in those animals, which were given too much of antioxidants.
Antioxidant therapy takes away hydrogen peroxide — and other naturally occurring vasodilators (blood vessel dilators) — and affects the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the muscles so they do not work properly, Copp said.
He added: “It’s really a cautionary note that before we start recommending people to take more antioxidants, we need to understand more about how they function in physiological systems and circumstances like exercise.”
Super foods are said to be rich in antioxidants.
Nutritionists claim that antioxidants can lengthen ones life by cutting the risk of heart disease and cancer. They are also said to slow down and even reverse some of the effects of ageing
