Do You Need to Cycle Antioxidants?

Do you need to cycle antioxidants?

There used to be a lot of talk about antioxidants being bad for you in the long run / affecting hypertrophy etc. This seems to have changed based on recent studies, e.g. Those related to life extension etc.

I’m still not clear though if taking multiple antioxidants such as curcumin and resvertrol long term is harmful and if they should be cycled?

Ha! I just finished writing an article that addressed this issue (cycling antioxidants). Here’s what I wrote: When you eat fruits and vegetables, the body enters a “stress resistance mode” where the body concentrates on the removal of damaged molecules and the manufacture of certain protein needed for cell survival.

However, it’s detrimental for the body to stay perpetually in this mode. The body needs to make proteins for other purposes and, if unabated, the dietary stressors can overstress the body until it starts to deteriorate.

Luckily, this doesn’t mean you have to start taking days off from eating plant foods, as you would with exercise. The evidence suggests that just a normal night of sleep is enough time to allow the cells to recover from any excess hormetic stress imposed by the plants you consumed that day.

Perfect timing!

So taking normal doses of antioxidants in addition to food presumably still allow for normal processes to resume over night.

I look forward to reading the article.

Antioxidants have been a hot topic for quite some time, and it’s great to see that recent studies
have helped clear up some of the confusion surrounding their long-term effects.