Vitamins E, C unable to keep cancer at bay

Washington, Nov 17 : A 10-year clinical trial did not seem to benefit 14,641 cancer patients above 50 years, after they were administered 400 units of vitamin E or 500 mg of vitamin C.

Analyses indicate that the randmised vitamin E trial did not have a significant effect on prostate cancer. This lack of effect for vitamin E also extended to other cancers. Vitamin C had a similar lack of effect on cancers.

"After nearly 10 years of supplementation with either vitamin E or vitamin C, we found no evidence supporting the use of either supplement in the prevention of cancer," said Howard D. Sesso, assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

"While vitamin E and C supplement use did not produce any protective benefits, they also did not cause any harm," he added.

Previous lab research had suggested that taking these vitamins as individual supplements may offer some protective benefits, according to a release of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Study co-author and principal investigator J. Michael Gaziano, associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, added: "Individual vitamin supplements such as vitamin E and C do not appear to provide the same potential advantages as vitamins included as part of a healthy, balanced diet."