Vitamin E exposes people to increased risk of lung cancer

People generally take vitamin supplements for better health and life, but these supplements won't protect them against lung cancer, a recent study said. And, taking moderate to high doses of vitamin E actually heighten their likelihood of developing lung cancer, the study revealed on Friday.

According to the study conducted by US researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle, overdosing on vitamins may lead to a small but statistically significant increase in risk, especially among smokers.

To reach their findings a team of researchers, led by Dr Christopher Slatore, a fellow in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Washington, looked at 77,126 men and women between the ages of 50 and 76.

The researchers followed the participants for four years, tracking their use over the prior decade of supplemental multivitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E and folate to see how many of them developed lung cancer.

Surprisingly, none of the vitamins included in the study was tied to a reduced risk of lung cancer instead those who took high doses of vitamin E, especially smokers, had a "slight but significant" risk, the researchers said.

"Our study of supplemental multivitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E and folate did not show any evidence for a decreased risk of lung cancer," said Dr. Slatore. "Indeed, increasing intake of supplemental vitamin E was associated with a slightly increased risk of lung cancer."

During the four-year study, 521 people or about 0.6 percent were diagnosed with the disease. The vast majority of them were smokers or former smokers.

The findings, which appear in the March issue of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, revealed that taking 400 milligram dose of vitamin E supplements every day for 10 years raises the risk of lung cancer 28 percent.

Vitamin E, a fat soluble vitamin, is most abundantly found in vegetable oils such as palm oil, sunflower, canola, corn, soybean and olive oil. Other sources of vitamin E are whole grains, fish, peanut butter, and green leafy vegetables, fortified breakfast cereals, nuts and wheat germ.

Last year in May, a study by US researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) linked mulivitamins with a significant risk of prostate cancer. Overdosing on vitamins can increase men’s risk of dying from prostate cancer, the researchers said at the time. In their study, the researchers had found that heavy multivitamin users were almost twice as likely to get fatal prostate cancer as men who never took the pills, the study concludes.

Last year one more study found astonishing facts about some vitamins revealing that consumption of vitamins won’t lead to a longer life instead it could increase the risk of death.

After analyzing dozens of studies of popular supplements, scientists from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark had found that vitamin A, C and vitamin E and beta carotene taken singly or with other supplements don’t provide long-life benefits rather "significantly increase mortality".

In Contrast, an Israeli study in January this year suggested hat vitamin E supplements can minimize the risk of heart attacks and related deaths for some Type 2 diabetics.