National study finds vitamin E supplement may increase prostate cancer risk

Cleveland Clinic ^ | October 11, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

Updated trial data show 17 percent increase in cancer risk

Cleveland: Men who take a daily vitamin E supplement – a regimen once thought to reduce cancer risk – face an increased risk of prostate cancer, according to results of a large national study.

The finding comes from a report summarizing the latest results of the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). Eric Klein, M.D., chair of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at Cleveland Clinic, is the lead author.

SELECT began in 2001 to test earlier research suggesting selenium and vitamin E supplements may reduce the risk of developing certain cancers. Some vitamin supplements containing enhanced levels of selenium and vitamin E were marketed to consumers during this time period with claims of reducing cancer risk.

The paper, which will appear in the October 12 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that a group of men taking a daily dose of 400 IU of vitamin E from 2001 to 2008 had 17 percent more cases of prostate cancer than men who took a placebo.

[Magic Fingers]

From Wikipedia:

“Tocotrienols are members of the vitamin E family. An essential nutrient for the body, vitamin E is made up of four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta).”

[rmlew]

Family is not the same as being one and the same. Ethanol and Vinegar are related, but most definitely not the same.

[Magic Fingers]

“Family is not the same as being one and the same. Ethanol and Vinegar are related, but most definitely not the same.”

Inaccurate analogy. Tocopherols and trienols are components of a complex known as Vitamin E. Tocopherols + tocotrienols = Vitamin E.

[neverdem]

Many thanks for the links!

[Magic Fingers]

My pleasure ;-)

[rmlew]

When the government and most supplement companies write "Vitamin E", they are reffering to Alpha-Tocopherol.
If you think I'm kidding, look up how many "mixed tocopherol" products there are.
People need all 8 members of this group. (I take a mixed tocopherol supplement and a separate mixed tocotrienol supplement daily.) But for 50 years, the government and industry focused on Alpha Tocopherol (or worse, synthetic Alpha Tocopherol).

[Magic Fingers]

“When the government and most supplement companies write “Vitamin E”, they are reffering to Alpha-Tocopherol.”

They may be, but it doesn’t change the fact that Vitamin E is composed of tocopherols and tocotrienols. The supplement companies I deal with don’t make that mistake. Like you, I take a mixture of both. To our good health...