Antioxidants Don't Prevent
Cancer in Male Smokers
Excerpt By Megan Rauscher, Reuters Health

Between 1985 and 1993, some 29,000 male smokers were given vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) or beta-carotene or both daily for 5 to 8 years. While the men were taking the supplements, the number of cases of lung cancer that occurred was 17 percent higher among those given beta-carotene. The total number of deaths in this group was also higher, by 8 percent.

Men taking vitamin E fared somewhat better. There was no effect on the number of lung cancer cases, but prostate cancers were reduced by 34 percent, the researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Most of the men were followed for up to 8 years after the supplements were stopped. "The effects of alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene disappeared during the post-intervention follow-up period and no late preventive effects on cancer were observed," Dr. Jarmo Virtamo of the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki told Reuters Health.

Since more deaths occurred in men taking beta-carotene, "beta-carotene should be avoided by smokers," Virtamo added.

As for the prevention of prostate cancer with vitamin E, that will need "confirmation in other ongoing trials" before public health recommendations can be made, Virtamo said.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, July 23/30, 2003.

Reference Source 89

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