Re: Multivitamin Use May Increase Risk of Prostate Cancer



T

Ted

Guest
On May 15, 9:10 pm, traveler <[email protected]> wrote:
> Heavy multivitamin use may be linked to advanced prostate cancer.
> While regular multivitamin use is not linked with early or localized
> prostate cancer, taking too many multivitamins may be associated with
> an increased risk for advanced or fatal prostate cancers, according to
> a study in the May 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer
> Institute.
>
> Millions of Americans take multivitamins because of a belief in their
> potential health benefits, even though there is limited scientific
> evidence that they prevent chronic disease. Researchers have wondered
> what impact multivitamin use might have on cancer risk.
>
> Karla Lawson, Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda,
> Md., and colleagues followed 295,344 men enrolled in the National
> Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study to determine the
> association between multivitamin use and prostate cancer risk. After
> five years of follow-up, 10,241 men were diagnosed with prostate
> cancer, including 8,765 with localized cancers and 1,476 with advanced
> cancers.
>
> The researchers found no association between multivitamin use and the
> risk of localized prostate cancer. But they did find an increased risk
> of advanced and fatal prostate cancer among men who used multivitamins
> more than seven times a week, compared with men who did not use
> multivitamins. The association was strongest in men with a family
> history of prostate cancer and men who also took selenium, beta-
> carotene, or zinc supplements.
>
> "Because multivitamin supplements consist of a combination of several
> vitamins and men using high levels of multivitamins were also more
> likely to take a variety of individual supplements, we were unable to
> identify or quantify individual components responsible for the
> associations that we observed," the authors write.
>
> In an accompanying editorial, Goran Bjelakovic, M.D., of the
> University of Nis in Serbia, and Christian Gluud, M.D., of Copenhagen
> University Hospital in Denmark, discuss the positive and negative
> health effects of antioxidant supplements. "Lawson [and colleagues]
> add to the growing evidence that questions the beneficial value of
> antioxidant vitamin pills in generally well-nourished populations and
> underscore the possibility that antioxidant supplements could have
> unintended consequences for our health," the authors write.
>
> Contact:
>
> · Article: National Cancer Institute Media Relations Branch,
> 301-496-6641, [email protected]
>
> · Editorial:
>
> o Goran Bjelakovic, [email protected]
>
> o Christian Gluud, [email protected]
>
> Citations:
>
> · Article: Lawson KA, Wright ME, Subar A, Mouw T, Schatzkin A,
> Leitzmann MF. Multivitamin Use and Risk of Prostate Cancer in the
> National Institutes of Health - AARP Diet and Health Study. J Natl
> Cancer Inst 2007; 99: 754-764
>
> · Editorial: Bjelakovic G, Gluud C. Surviving Antioxidant Supplements.
> J Natl Cancer Inst 2007; 99: 742-743
>
> Note: The Journal of the National Cancer Institute is published by
> Oxford University Press and is not affiliated with the National Cancer
> Institute. Attribution to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute
> is requested in all news coverage. Visit the Journal online athttp://jnci..oxfordjournals.org/.