Synthetic Vitamins Deplete Your Body of Essential Nutrients
 

In addition, synthetic vitamins are notorious for lacking all the co-factors your body needs in order to make good use of that nutrient.  This means your body will take those other co-factors if possible from other areas of your body where they are needed.  This depletes your body of other essential nutrients.  The JAMA article about antioxidants also went on to state that vitamins and antioxidants should be consumed from living source fruits and vegetables, although this was grievously omitted from the Washington Post article. 
 

Antioxidants Protect Us From Heart Disease, Cancer and More
 

One problem with simply throwing out all antioxidant supplements is that more and more research is showing us the very important role that antioxidants play in protecting us from things like heart disease and cancer and extending our lives.  Antioxidants help to quench free radicals, which are unstable molecules that can cause damage in our bodies.  These free radicals are produced normally in our bodies, but much larger quantities are produced by most people these days because of excess pollution, environmental toxins, and stress in our modern day lives.
 

50 Percent Fewer Antioxidants In Our Foods
 

Unfortunately, most people don't get enough vitamins and minerals in their foods today.  They often don't eat well enough to begin with, but even if they try to eat well, most of our food today has a lower vitamin and mineral content than our foods at the turn of the century.  In fact, some studies have shown a decrease of 50 percent in antioxidants in our foods over the past couple decades.  That is a huge decline!  In addition to this, we have a much greater need for antioxidants today in order to help protect our bodies against the free radicals caused by toxins and stress.
 

Antioxidant Supplementation - Whole Food Forms Only
 

This means that supplementing with various antioxidants like vitamins A, B, C, E, as well as DHLA and Green Tea is still important for many of us today if we want to live long, healthy lives, but we need to choose only whole food supplements.  True, 100% whole food supplements with NO synthetic or toxic ingredients are unfortunately the exception, not the rule today, however, they can be found if you take the time to search for them.