14 Jul Vitamins C and E Found To Have No Effect On Risk of Cancer
MedicalResearch Interview with:
Dr. Lu Wang MD PhD
Associate Epidemiologist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Department of Medicine Preventive Medicine
Boston, MA 02115
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Wang: We found that vitamin E supplement 400 IU every other day and vitamin C supplement 500 mg daily had no effect on total cancers, the incidence of prostate cancer and other site-specific cancers during periods of intervention, post-trial observation, or overall.
Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Wang: Another trial, the SELECT trial, tested vitamin E supplementation of 400 IU/d on the prevention of prostate cancer and recently reported that men randomized to take active vitamin E developed significantly more prostate cancer compared with placebo during the post-trial follow-up. Our findings contrast with the SELECT and reveal no late treatment effect of vitamin E and C supplementation.
Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Wang: More studies are needed to evaluate the safety of high dose vitamin supplements, particularly post-trial follow-up of large-scale, long-term randomized trials.
Citation:
Lu Wang, Howard D Sesso, Robert J Glynn, William G Christen, Vadim Bubes, JoAnn E Manson, Julie E Buring, and J Michael Gaziano
Am J Clin Nutr 2014 ajcn.085480; First published online July 9, 2014. doi:10.3945/ajcn.114.085480
Last Updated on July 14, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD