Significance of Antioxidant Nutrients in Preventive Medicine

DECLARATION OF SAAS-FEE ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ANTIOXIDANT NUTRIENTS IN PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

June 15, 1992 Switzerland

1. The intensive research on free radicals of the past 15 years by scientists worldwide has led to the statement in 1992 that antioxidant nutrients may have major significance in the prevention of a number of diseases. These include cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, some forms of cancer and several other disorders many of which may be age-related.

2. There is now general agreement that there is a need for further work at the fundamental scientific level as well as in large scale randomized trials and in clinical medicine, which can be expected to lead to more precise information being made available.

3. The major objective of this work is the prevention of disease. This may be achieved by the use of antioxidants which are natural physiological substances. The strategy should be to achieve optimal intakes of these antioxidant nutrients as part of preventive medicine.

4. It is quite clear that many environmental sources of free radicals exist, such as ozone, sunlight and other forms of radiation, smog, dust and other atmospheric pollutants. The optimal intake of antioxidants provides a preventive measure against these hazards.

5. There is a great need for improvement in public awareness of the potential preventive benefits of antioxidant nutrient intake. Moreover, there is overwhelming evidence that the antioxidant nutrients such as vitamin E, vitamin C, carotenoids, alpha-lipoic acid and others are safe even at very high levels of intake.

6. There is now substantial agreement that governmental agencies, health professionals and the media should promote information transfer to the general public, particularly evidence exists that benefits for human health and public expenditure are overwhelming.

---

SAAS-FEE Switzerland June 15, 1992

Prof. Dr. Igor Afanas’ev, Moscow

Prof. Dr. Julie E. Buring, Harvard

Prof. Dr. Anthony T. Diplock, London

Prof. Dr. Charles H. Hennekens, Harvard

PD Dr. Bodo Kuklinski, Rostock

Dr. Matilde Maiorino, Padova

Prof. Dr. Lester Packer, Berkeley

Prof. Dr. Muichand S. Patel, Cleveland

Prof. Dr. Karlheinz Schmidt, Tubingen

---