don’t throw away your vitamin pills just yet

DON’T THROW AWAY YOUR VITAMIN PILLS JUST YET


The news report spread fast ---- vitamin pills do not stop cancer. The researchers from Denmark who reported these findings in the British journal LANCET said the results were “unexpected.” [Lancet 364: 1219-28, 2004] “Unexpected” because the researchers don’t understand nutritional science. Yet in their ignorance, they were emphatic about their conclusions --- “Antioxidant pills, except selenium, are useless for prevention of gastrointestinal cancers,” they were quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

The timing of the release of this study begs inquiry, just prior to world discussions on dietary supplements at the international CODEX meetings. Critics of the study from the University of Leeds in England indicate, if more appropriate analysis would have been employed, the results of the study would “not have reached conventional significance.” Translation: was the study was intentionally skewed to produce a preconceived result?

While the researchers examined 14 different studies involving 170,000 participants in regards to gastrointestinal cancer, there was “no convincing proof of hazard,” said a reviewer of their paper. [Lancet 364: 1193-94, 2004] Regardless, the headlines alarmed many and sold a lot of newspapers.

Jeffrey Blumberg, chief of the antioxidants research lab at Tufts University in Boston, responded by saying “it is premature to write off antioxidant supplements for cancer prevention.” [Associated Press September 30, 2004] But Blumberg’s statement was buried at the bottom of news reports or was not reported at all. The shock value had left an impression in the public’s mind that antioxidant pills could actually be killers.

So, do antioxidant pills lead to the premature demise of the people who consume them? According to the researchers in Denmark, if one extrapolates their data, about 9000 more people would die of cancer out of a population of 1 million if all took antioxidant supplements. That’s an increase of about 1 in 100 people.

In response to the Danish researchers, the amount of supplemental vitamin C consumed in these studies is mostly insufficient to produce a beneficial effect. Epidemiological studies indicate high concentrations of vitamin C in the blood circulation reduce the risk of cancer by over 50 percent among individuals who consume low amounts of vitamin C from their diet. [Am J Clinical Nutrition 72: 139-45, 2000] Humans would have to consume at least 2500 milligrams of vitamin C per day in divided doses to achieve this health benefit. Few dietary supplement users consume this much vitamin C.

Furthermore, one of vitamin C’s primary anti-cancer functions is to prevent the spread of cancer by strengthening the connective tissue surrounding tumor cells so malignancies can’t invade surrounding tissues. [Anticancer Res. 2000 Jan-Feb; 20:113-8] Therefore, supplemental vitamin C may still have value even if it doesn’t prevent cancer, as it may block its spread.

The Danish study is flawed if for no other reason than the misunderstanding of what causes gastrointestinal cancer. Numerous studies point to the unbound iron as the agent that triggers gut cancer. Iron-overloaded individuals have an increased risk for gut cancer. [J Natl Cancer Institute 95: 154-59, 2003] Iron-overload induces the DNA damage that initiates colon cancer. [Mutation Research 519: 151-61, 2002] A recent study indicates red meat, which provides a highly absorbable form of iron, increases the risk of colon cancer while chicken and fish does not. [Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prevention 13:1509-14, 2004] Phytic acid, a component of bran from whole grains that binds iron, has been shown to inhibit the initiation of colon cancer in animals. [Anticancer Research 19:3681-3, 1999] Vitamins C and E, the antioxidants studied by the Danish researchers that are commonly provided in dietary supplements, do not bind iron. Therefore, vitamins C and E would not be EXPECTED to reduce the risk of colon cancer.

Selenium, the only supplemental nutrient found in the Danish study to prevent cancer, helps to control iron. Selenium-deficient animals have been found to have serum iron concentrations 40-58% greater than in selenium-sufficient animals. [Bioscience Biotechnology Biochemistry 59: 302-06, 1995]

The advice health authorities gave to the public, in light of the new Danish study, was to “eat a healthy diet.” Yet the National Cancer Institute recently admitted the consumption of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables has not lowered the rate of cancer and now suggests 9 servings of plant foods per day, a difficult task for most people to accomplish.

Furthermore, no mention was made that most of the people in the study were smokers. Each cigarette depletes the body of 25 milligrams of vitamin C. Each pack of cigarettes requires 500 milligrams to replace lost vitamin C stores. Vitamin C supplements should be required for all smokers. ####

Copyright Bill Sardi 2004 Knowledge of Health, Inc.
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