Vitamin E linked to lung cancer

[manlymatt83]

Text

The researchers followed people aged between 50 and 76 for four years and looked at their average daily use of vitamin C and folic acid, and vitamin E supplements.

Over the course of the study, 521 people developed lung cancer.

Smoking, family history and age all had unsurprisingly strong links to cancer risk.

And while neither vitamin C or folic acid use had any effect on lung cancer risk, vitamin E use did.

The researchers extrapolated their findings, and concluded that over a decade, there was an additional 7% increase in risk for every 100 milligrams taken per day.

The vitamin E trend was most prominent among smokers, but was not confined to them.

Vitamin E is known to be an antioxidant - protecting cells from molecules called free radicals.

But the US researchers speculate that, in high doses, it may also act as a pro-oxidant - causing oxidation and therefore damage to cells.

Couldn't it also be that people who take supplements are less likely to get things from a healthy diet and working out? I work out, eat right, AND I take a multi vitamin. I would have loved to know how many of those people with an increased risk of lung cancer from taking vitamin E worked out, ate right, didn't smoke, etc.

 

[Q]

How high of doses though? Could be an unrealistic number, which won't really matter.

 

[Chadder007]

The reason it "links" to lung cancer is that once a person gets lung cancer and continues to take Vitamin E..... That vitamin helps feed the cancer more so causing it to grow quicker. It doesn't cause it, but it does help feed it once it develops.

 

[NanoStuff]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
Couldn't it also be that people who take supplements are less likely to get things from a healthy diet and working out?.

Doesn't explain the lack of change in other supplements. Correlation is pretty clear, but side-effects to vitamin over-consumption isn't news. Something is bound to go wrong, it just happened to be cancer in this case.

 

[Mo0o]

Originally posted by: Chadder007
The reason it "links" to lung cancer is that once a person gets lung cancer and continues to take Vitamin E..... That vitamin helps feed the cancer more so causing it to grow quicker. It doesn't cause it, but it does help feed it once it develops.

Uh that's not true. Just means there a positive correlation. Doesn't imply one way or the other

 

[Mo0o]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
Text

The researchers followed people aged between 50 and 76 for four years and looked at their average daily use of vitamin C and folic acid, and vitamin E supplements.

Over the course of the study, 521 people developed lung cancer.

Smoking, family history and age all had unsurprisingly strong links to cancer risk.

And while neither vitamin C or folic acid use had any effect on lung cancer risk, vitamin E use did.

The researchers extrapolated their findings, and concluded that over a decade, there was an additional 7% increase in risk for every 100 milligrams taken per day.

The vitamin E trend was most prominent among smokers, but was not confined to them.

Vitamin E is known to be an antioxidant - protecting cells from molecules called free radicals.

But the US researchers speculate that, in high doses, it may also act as a pro-oxidant - causing oxidation and therefore damage to cells.

Couldn't it also be that people who take supplements are less likely to get things from a healthy diet and working out? I work out, eat right, AND I take a multi vitamin. I would have loved to know how many of those people with an increased risk of lung cancer from taking vitamin E worked out, ate right, didn't smoke, etc.

They probably controlled for the smoking and diet/exercise hasn't really been linked to lung cancer as far as I'm aware.