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Vitamin E Lowers Risk Of Liver Cancer
– Reported, July 18, 2012
(Ivanhoe Newswire) Vitamin E is good for many things, including prevention of heart disease, strokes, cataracts, and possibly some signs of aging. Now, a study finds that consuming higher amounts of Vitamin E can lower your risk for liver cancer.
As the third most common cause of cancer mortality in the world, liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in men and the seventh most common cancer in women – 85% of liver cancers occur in developing nations, with 54% in China alone. Different epidemiological studies have been conducted to examine the relationship between vitamin E intake and liver cancer, but the results have been inconsistent.
Wei Zhang, MD, MPH., of the Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, and colleagues analyzed data from 132,837 Chinese individuals who were enrolled in the Shanghai Womens Health Study (SWHS) from 1997-2000 or the Shanghai Mens Health Study (SMHS) from 2002-2006. Both were population-based cohort studies that were jointly conducted by the Shanghai Cancer Institute and Vanderbilt University.
Using validated food-frequency questionnaires, the researchers conducted in-person interviews to gain data about the participants dietary habits. They compared liver cancer risk among participants who had high intake of vitamin E with those with low intake.
Included in the analysis were 267 liver cancer patients who were diagnosed between 2 years after study enrollment and an average of 10.9 (SWHS) or 5.5 (SMHS) years of follow-up. Both dietary intake of vitamin E and supplementary intake of vitamin E were associated with a lower risk of liver cancer, and the association was consistent among participants with and without self-reported liver disease or family history of liver cancer.
The authors noted a small difference between men and women in the risk estimate, which could be attributed to fewer liver cancer cases occurring among SMHS participants because of the shorter follow up period. Bottom line: a high intake of vitamin E from either the diet or supplements is related to a lower risk of liver cancer, as demonstrated by middle-aged or older people from China.
Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, July 2012
