Research
Hormonal
Chronic antioxidant supplementation (specifically Vitamin C and E) interferes with skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise training by attenuating improvements in insulin sensitivity, mitochondrial biogenesis, and antioxidant capacity.
If you are training regularly, avoid taking high-dose Vitamin C and E supplements. They block the molecular signals your body needs to build mitochondria and improve insulin sensitivity. Let the exercise stress do its job.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
There is building evidence that antioxidant supplementation can attenuate endurance training-induced and ROS/RNS-mediated enhancements in antioxidant capacity, mitochondrial biogenesis, cellular defence mechanisms and insulin sensitivity.
Why this rating
Based on a review of multiple human and rodent studies, though results vary by protocol.
Source
Do antioxidant supplements interfere with skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise training?
Troy L. Merry et al. · The Journal of Physiology · 2015
DOI 10.1113/jp270654
narrative_reviewCited 310×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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