Vitamin E – Is There Really a Cancer Connection?

Let me make the answer as clear as mud…YES…and NO.  Let me explain so that you have an informed decision whether vitamin E supplementation is right for you. There has been a long standing debate whether vitamin E increases or decreases the risk of cancer.  A new study explains why both outcomes are possible.

Many people believe that taking supplements can improve their well-being and decrease their risk of developing numerous health problems. However, some recent research has suggested that supplements may not bring any health benefits. In some cases, studies have suggested that particular dietary supplements could even cause harm.  In spite of this conflicting information, preliminary data suggests that approximately 78 percent of U.S. people believe the dietary supplement industry is “trustworthy.” And, the study also finds that three-quarters of Americans take dietary supplements.

This brings us to the tale of vitamin E. A new study has been measuring the effects of vitamin E on overall cancer risk and related to specific cancer types. Then, the researchers took a deeper dive by analyzing factors that might influence the effect. “Observational studies of people taking vitamin E have reported benefits, but when vitamin E supplements were brought into placebo-controlled clinical trials, the results were null,” explains the study author. “This made it easy to assume that vitamin E just doesn’t work. But, what we’ve found is that it may have been protective in some and not in others, and that a genetic variation is linked to these outcomes,” the team discovered.

The study team’s goal was to understand the cause of vitamin E’s benefit in some cases, while having no effect or even have a negative impact in others. The researchers analyzed the data from the Women’s Health Study (WHS), involving vitamin E and low dose aspirin to prevent heart events in thousands of U.S. women. Additionally, the researchers took into account the Women’s Genome Health Study, which allowed them to access relevant information the genetic makeup of the women. Specifically, the investigators were interested in a gene variant called COMT.  This gene and any one of three variations in that gene affect how your body will interact with vitamin E and the subsequent positive or negative impact to your cancer risk. The researchers looked at the rates of cancer among participants in the WHS (heart) trial.