Is anyone else concerned that the scientific standards of the prestigious journal 'The Metro' might be slipping? I noticed an advert the other day for Sambucol, a product claimed to help "support the immune system" that has been "tested in published clinical studies", and that can help prevent catching "winter's bugs". References are made throughout the ad to coughs and sneezes, suggesting its being touted as a cold and flu medicine. It is made from elderberry extract, raspberry extract, citric acid and potassium sorbate (a preservative). It's claimed that the product's apparent medicinal properties are due to the high antioxdiant content of elderberries.
Hmm.
Evidence for the medicinal properties of antioxidants is mixed at the very best. Although early evidence from the 1980s seemed to suggest that antioxidants were implicated in reducing susceptibility to cancer, since then the literature has generally failed to support the use of antioxidant supplements to improve health. This 2008 review by the Cochrane library - an impartial research organisation that looks at all available (and of reasonable quality) published studies for a particular treatment and draws conclusions about efficacy and safety - found no evidence that antioxidant supplements treat disease or prolong life, from 67 randomised trials with 232,550 participants in total. In fact, it was found that antioxidants vitamin A, vitamin E and beta-carotene actually were associated with increased mortality.
This of course is a very crude summary of complex and wide-ranging literature, so I'd recommend looking deeper for a more detailed analysis. However it can certainly be said that there is no strong body of scientific literature that supports medicinal properties of antioxidants.
These are powerful health claims, especially at a time when influenza (both the seasonal and H1N1 'Swine flu' strains) is a significant threat to health and there is a distinct wariness towards the H1N1 vaccine amongst many members of the general public. The phrase 'they haven't even tested it properly yet' has become disconcertingly ubiquitous. It is therefore pretty irresponsible to make such strong claims and for
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