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Monash University > News and Events > Monash Memo
Research cautions against use of anti-oxidants
14 October 2009
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| Professor Tony Tiganis and researcher Kim Loh |
An international team of scientists has found that anti-oxidants commonly touted for their health-promoting benefits, could contribute to the early onset of Type 2 diabetes.
The team, led by Professor Tony Tiganis from the Monash Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has found that molecules known as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) may play a protective role in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes by enhancing insulin action. Anti-oxidants prevent the beneficial effects of ROS.
The findings, published in Cell Metabolism, challenge the widely-held view that ROS are always harmful and that anti-oxidants are always beneficial.
"ROS molecules, such as hydrogen peroxide, are important for normal cell function; We have shown that ROS present in muscle, enhance insulin action and help lower blood sugar levels," Professor Tiganis said.
Professor Tiganis said the study did not negate the role of ROS in late-stage disease.
"There's a ‘yin and yang' relationship that takes place, wherein ROS are beneficial in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes and shift to being harmful at later stages of the disease," he said.
"We are now trying to find out when ROS make the switch from being good to bad."
Professor Tiganis said that although more research needed to be done, the results indicated that the widespread use of anti-oxidants by the general public as a preventative measure was something that should be discouraged, particularly if people were otherwise healthy.
"Eat healthy and exercise as this is a natural source of ROS that promotes insulin action," he said.
Diabetes is Australia's fastest growing disease, with an estimated 275 people developing the disorder each day.
Professor Tiganis led a team of 12 Monash researchers, scientists from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, University of Melbourne, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the US.
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