Men taking daily vitamin E were more likely to get prostate cancer
than those not taking the dietary supplement in a new study of close to
35,000 North Americans.
Over a decade, an additional one or two men out of 100 taking vitamin E would be expected to get prostate cancer, researchers found.
"If you have enough of these vitamins in your system...extra doesn't help you any, and too much of something like this can be harmful," Dr. Eric Klein from the Cleveland Clinic, one of the study's authors, told Reuters Health.
The findings, released today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, come on the heels of a study suggesting older women who take multivitamins have slightly increased death rates than those who don't (see Reuters Health story of October 10, 2011).
"There's a theme here that taking vitamins is not only not helpful but could be harmful" in people who aren't deficient, Klein said.
Still, one researcher who wasn't part of the new study said he doubts it means vitamin E causes prostate cancer.
According to the National Cancer Institute, about 241,000 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011, and close to 34,000 will die from the disease.
Although men are typically screened regularly for prostate cancer with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests, a government-funded task force recently put out draft recommendations saying that the screening doesn't prevent men from dying of cancer, but may cause undue harm through unnecessary procedures.
For the current study, men in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico were randomly assigned to one of four groups.
Starting between 2001 and 2004, about 9,000 men each took daily supplements of 400 international units (IU) of vitamin E, 200 micrograms of selenium, vitamin E and selenium together or a vitamin-free placebo pill.
The study was halted in late 2008 when the researchers saw a hint of an increased risk of prostate cancer in men taking vitamin E, but they kept monitoring men for cancer after they stopped taking the supplements. And it turned out that extra risk became clearer over time.
By mid-2011, about seven percent of men who had taken vitamin E only had gotten prostate cancer, compared to six percent of those assigned to the placebo pills.
The researchers didn't find an extra risk of prostate cancer in men who took only selenium or vitamin E together with selenium.
Over a decade, an additional one or two men out of 100 taking vitamin E would be expected to get prostate cancer, researchers found.
"If you have enough of these vitamins in your system...extra doesn't help you any, and too much of something like this can be harmful," Dr. Eric Klein from the Cleveland Clinic, one of the study's authors, told Reuters Health.
The findings, released today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, come on the heels of a study suggesting older women who take multivitamins have slightly increased death rates than those who don't (see Reuters Health story of October 10, 2011).
"There's a theme here that taking vitamins is not only not helpful but could be harmful" in people who aren't deficient, Klein said.
Still, one researcher who wasn't part of the new study said he doubts it means vitamin E causes prostate cancer.
According to the National Cancer Institute, about 241,000 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011, and close to 34,000 will die from the disease.
Although men are typically screened regularly for prostate cancer with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests, a government-funded task force recently put out draft recommendations saying that the screening doesn't prevent men from dying of cancer, but may cause undue harm through unnecessary procedures.
For the current study, men in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico were randomly assigned to one of four groups.
Starting between 2001 and 2004, about 9,000 men each took daily supplements of 400 international units (IU) of vitamin E, 200 micrograms of selenium, vitamin E and selenium together or a vitamin-free placebo pill.
The study was halted in late 2008 when the researchers saw a hint of an increased risk of prostate cancer in men taking vitamin E, but they kept monitoring men for cancer after they stopped taking the supplements. And it turned out that extra risk became clearer over time.
By mid-2011, about seven percent of men who had taken vitamin E only had gotten prostate cancer, compared to six percent of those assigned to the placebo pills.
The researchers didn't find an extra risk of prostate cancer in men who took only selenium or vitamin E together with selenium.
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