The Natural
Established Member
- Reaction score
- 13
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/sto ... 50733796/1
Vitamin E supplements significantly increased the risk of prostate cancer in healthy men even after they stopped taking them, scientists reported Tuesday.
Given the popularity of vitamin E for those 60 and over, the researchers wrote, "the implications of our observations are substantial." Those studied took 400 international units (IUs) a day.
The prostate cancer findings come a day after publication of a study that raised questions about the effects of common vitamin and mineral supplements in older women. That 19-year study of nearly 39,000 women linked supplement use to a higher risk of death.
"I think many Americans view supplements as an insurance policy," says Lori Minasian, a co-author of the vitamin E and prostate study and acting director of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Prevention.
"We don't always exercise right. We don't always eat right. It's just easier to take a pill," she says.
In Minasian's study, about 35,000 U.S. and Canadian men were randomly assigned to take vitamin E, selenium, vitamin E and selenium, or a placebo. Black men, who have a higher risk of prostate cancer, were 50 and older. The other men in the study were at least 55.
In 2008, after the men had been taking their pills for about 5½ years, researchers told them to stop, a year earlier than planned. An interim analysis had shown that vitamin E wasn't reducing prostate cancer risk and might raise it, although that observation could have been attributed to chance.
Once the men stopped therapy, researchers expected the difference in prostate cancer risk between those on vitamin E and those on the placebo to even out, but it kept widening. By July of this year, 17% more prostate cancers, 91 more cases, had been reported in those on vitamin E than those on placebo pills, says the study, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The authors say they don't have an explanation for their findings, which differ from other large randomized trials that examined the effect of vitamin E pills on prostate cancer risk. Perhaps the men taking E had higher levels to begin with.
Urologist Neil Fleshner of Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto thinks the raised risk was merely "statistical."
"I don't think it's cause and effect," says Fleshner, who was not involved in the study. "Many other studies have looked at this question and not shown that."
He says he used to take 800 units of vitamin E every day. "I truly believed it would help prevent prostate cancer." He stopped taking it when research a few years ago suggested large doses might increase risk of death."
Vitamin E supplements significantly increased the risk of prostate cancer in healthy men even after they stopped taking them, scientists reported Tuesday.
Given the popularity of vitamin E for those 60 and over, the researchers wrote, "the implications of our observations are substantial." Those studied took 400 international units (IUs) a day.
The prostate cancer findings come a day after publication of a study that raised questions about the effects of common vitamin and mineral supplements in older women. That 19-year study of nearly 39,000 women linked supplement use to a higher risk of death.
"I think many Americans view supplements as an insurance policy," says Lori Minasian, a co-author of the vitamin E and prostate study and acting director of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Prevention.
"We don't always exercise right. We don't always eat right. It's just easier to take a pill," she says.
In Minasian's study, about 35,000 U.S. and Canadian men were randomly assigned to take vitamin E, selenium, vitamin E and selenium, or a placebo. Black men, who have a higher risk of prostate cancer, were 50 and older. The other men in the study were at least 55.
In 2008, after the men had been taking their pills for about 5½ years, researchers told them to stop, a year earlier than planned. An interim analysis had shown that vitamin E wasn't reducing prostate cancer risk and might raise it, although that observation could have been attributed to chance.
Once the men stopped therapy, researchers expected the difference in prostate cancer risk between those on vitamin E and those on the placebo to even out, but it kept widening. By July of this year, 17% more prostate cancers, 91 more cases, had been reported in those on vitamin E than those on placebo pills, says the study, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The authors say they don't have an explanation for their findings, which differ from other large randomized trials that examined the effect of vitamin E pills on prostate cancer risk. Perhaps the men taking E had higher levels to begin with.
Urologist Neil Fleshner of Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto thinks the raised risk was merely "statistical."
"I don't think it's cause and effect," says Fleshner, who was not involved in the study. "Many other studies have looked at this question and not shown that."
He says he used to take 800 units of vitamin E every day. "I truly believed it would help prevent prostate cancer." He stopped taking it when research a few years ago suggested large doses might increase risk of death."