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The limits of vitamin E
VITAMIN WARNING: Overdose of those pills can be risky
People who eat food high in antioxidant vitamins and minerals have been shown to have a lower incidence of cancer. But can there be too much of a good thing? A new study in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that when cancer patients took high doses of vitamin E, their risk of a new cancer actually went up. The study was led by Dr. Isabelle Bairati of Laval University in Quebec.
"Our results suggest that caution should be advised regarding the use of high-dose a-tocopherol supplements for cancer prevention," the researchers wrote referring to the synthetic form of vitamin E. The 540 volunteers in the study, all with head or neck cancer, took 400 international units a day. On the first day of radiation therapy, they began a three-year course of vitamin E or a placebo. Compared with patients receiving the placebo, the patients given the vitamin supplements were about twice as likely to develop a new cancer. In the period after the supplement was given, those who had received the vitamin E did a little better in avoiding cancer than those given a placebo. And after eight years, the rate of new cancers was the same in both groups.
Last month, another study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found that high doses of vitamin E might raise the risk of heart failure in people with diabetes or clogged arteries. The authors suggested that people who wanted to reduce their cancer risk should improve their diets than taking supplements.
New York Times
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