Iron Men
Iron Men
Toss it.
That’s my suggestion for anyone who’s wondering what to do with the recent National Cancer Institute (NCI) study that links multivitamin use with prostate cancer.
Toss the study, but everyone should make note of this key point that the study inadvertently points up: One very specific type of multivitamin may be harmful when taken in large doses.
Reality check
When it comes to reporting on alternative health care, the mainstream media acts like an excitable child who jumps whenever someone says, “Boo!” Every little breeze sends them into Chicken Little mode, running in circles and shrieking hysterically.
Contrary to reports, however, the sky is not falling.
The NCI study compared supplement use and health records for more than 295,000 men over the course of five years. The average age of the cohort was 62. Results showed no link between localized prostate cancer and the use of multivitamins or individual vitamin supplements. But results DID suggest a link between advanced prostate cancer among men who reported “excessive use of multivitamins (more than seven times per week)” when compared to men who took no multivitamins at all.
In the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the authors of the study wrote that this link “is of concern and merits further evaluation.”
That fairly mild comment opened a gusher of media hype. The Associated Press headline told it like it wasn’t: “Study: Vitamins Tied to Prostate Cancer.” And CBS went with a similar half-truth: “Study Links Vitamin Use, Prostate Cancer.” Other media outlets followed along the same lines.
For those who cared to dig a little, it turns out that the advanced prostate cancer link was strongest among subjects with a family history of prostate cancer. Gee y’think? And kudos to Stephen Daniells, reporting for NutraIngredients, who included this insightful quote from Daniel Fabricant of the Natural Products Association: “Considering what a strong factor family risk is for all cancers, prostate cancer may also increase in men who have a family history of breast cancer. Other potential risk factors of this nature were not accounted for in the study.”
The key message missed
Here’s the finer point about multivitamins that the study and the media reports all missed: The wrong type of multivitamin, taken in excess, just might turn a slow-growing prostate cancer into a more aggressive cancer.
In previous e-Alerts I’ve shared a warning from HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., who notes that many brands of multivitamins contain inorganic iron. Here’s what Dr. Spreen had to say on the topic, specifically in reference to the NCI study
“It’s very interesting that multivitamins were singled out in terms of ‘excessive use’. It’s well known that today’s ‘100% RDA’ multi-vits are dangerous in terms of the amount of iron they contain (especially for men, whose periods tend to be lighter than women’s). The standard 18 milligrams is way too high, and taking them in excess to get more of the other vitamins and minerals is not safe, due to the fact that the iron used is inorganic and not ingested attached to a heme ring like the iron in our blood.
“Iron is a HUGE free radical generator – which is exactly the stress a guy doesn’t need while trying to fight other nasty little cells in the body.”
Supplement makers seem to be catching on to the iron problem. More and more these days you’ll see multivitamin brands that carry a “No Iron” note on the label.
You can read more about the NCI study in Michele Cagan’s HSI On the Spot blog which can be found at this link: http://www.hsionline.com/redir/blog.html. Look for the 5/16/07 entry titled “Let the Supplement Bashing Begin.”
