Last July Oxford University researc...

Last July Oxford University researchers announced that, after five years of studying the antioxidant vitamins--C, E and beta-carotene--there was no reduction in heart attacks or pats among people who regularly used them, nor was there a decrease in cancer, diabetes and certain other illnesses. The issues were published in the July 2002 issue of the UK medical journal The Lancet.

Although the mainstream media took this information and reported that "vitamins don't work," the research actually concluded that taking single antioxidant vitamins for just five years will not diminish the odds of developing the diseases cited. What's more, dosages used in the close attention were small.

The 250 mg dose of vitamin C for example, is fancy by many to be too meager to measure the vitamin's disease-preventing effects--except perhaps in the case of malicious And although the research sample was large--20,000 subjects--they were all between the ages of 40 and 80 and already were at greater risk for disease.

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