Vitamin E could trigger prostate cancer

Health Net: Consuming vitamin E per day may increase the risk of prostate cancer in men. This is revealed in a recent study conducted to see the potential hazards associated with regular use of some food supplements.

Men who consume vitamin E during a period of seven years, the risk of prostate cancer is 17% higher than those using a placebo a kind of artificial treatment performed by doctors of a particular disease. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

This study is a follow-up of the experiment in 2008 to 35 thousand men designed to see if the supplements help prevent prostate cancer. Such findings reinforce the emerging research that states that some vitamins and supplements commonly used by about 234 million American adults may be more harmful than beneficial. A study published in Archives of Internal Medicine also recently concluded that the use of multivitamins and supplements, including folic acid, iron, magnesium, and copper, is associated with mortality in older women.

There is no reason for men to consume vitamin E, said Eric Klein, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic, who is also vice chairman of the investigators of this research. These supplements showed no benefit and some even risky.

This research, called SELECT (Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention), was designed to see whether one or both substances can prevent prostate cancer. Last May, said the researchers, Data and Safety Monitoring Committee to check the experimental data and recommended the report of the findings regarding the risk of prostate cancer.

Recent data show that those who consume 400 units of vitamin E every day internationally experienced an average of 76 cases of cancer per 1,000 participants, compared with 65 cases in the placebo group.

The increase in risk by 17% found in the group of participants who only consume vitamin E. Those who consume a combination of vitamin E and selenium did not show a significantly increased risk.

This study is the largest, most definitely, and the first to show that there is a chance that harm from the consumption of vitamin E on a regular basis, said Leslie Ford, deputy director for clinical research at the National Cancer Institute.