It turns out that antioxidant [1] vitamin supplements don't help us live longer. They don't appear to prevent disease or improve our health. In fact, they may just be expensive sugar pills.

That was the news [2] yesterday, which was published in Journal of the American Medical Association. Their report evaluated an extensive number of studies involving hundreds of thousands of people. The research was compiled at the Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark.

Even though we've known for some time now that these supplements may not be all that they're cracked up to be [2], I still thought their conclusion [3] was stunning: These supplements do not prolong our lives. Worse, the data actually showed a higher risk of death for people who regularly took supplements. (Many experts dismissed that risk as a coincidence.)

The studies analyzed several popular supplements, including vitamins A, C, and E, as well as beta-carotene and selenium.

Naturally, the report stirred up disagreements amongst health experts. Some said that the analysis proved that supplements are useless, while others said they weren't convinced by the data. Still others believe that antioxidants are helpful, but they're only effective when they come from food. Here's a good list of antioxidant-rich foods [3].

Given that I've got a giant bottle of vitamin E and an even bigger bottle of vitamin C in my medicine cabinet right now, I'm sort of annoyed to hear this news.

After all, I've probably spent few hundred dollars on all these supplements over the years. And like everyone else, I popped them because of their claims to help stave off everything from the common cold to cancer [4].

You'd think by now, I would have figured out that there really aren't any shortcuts when it comes eating a balanced, healthful diet. So why does it seem that I keep having to learn that lesson over an over again?