Vitamins and cancer
According to Eric Jacobs, a senior epidemiologist and vitamin specialist with the American Cancer Society, “There is no vitamin or mineral supplement proven to reduce the risk of cancer.”
A string of negative results summarized in an Associated Press story are depressing.
- 50 mg a per day of alpha-tocopherol, a form of vitamin E, had no effect on lung cancer incidence
- 20 mg of beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, was associated with an 18% increase in lung cancer incidence in smokers
- Beta-carotene had no effect on the incidence of lung cancer in non-smokers, or in prostate or breast cancer
- Vitamin B2 and niacin had no impact on the occurrence of cancers
- Selenium did not decrease skin cancer in people with a history of that disease
- A low-dose vitamin A derivative did not prevent head and neck tumors
- Calcium and vitamin D supplements didn’t cut the odds of developing breast cancer
Maybe the wrong doses were studied. For now, these are the latest data.
6/25/06 21:21 JR
