New study shows prostate cancer patients need vitamin E
Urban Legend
“Many of the spurious medical articles circulated on the Internet eventually become attributed to the world-renowned Johns Hopkins University, medical school, and hospitals.”
That observation appears on Snopes.com, the website that calls itself “the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.”
But here’s a bizarre urban legend that really CAN be traced straight back to JHU: Vitamin E supplements might kill you.
As urban legends go, you can find wilder ones (like the hook on the car door handle), but you won’t find any less accurate.
Fear not
Nearly five years ago, JHU associate professor Edgar R. Miller III, Ph.D., and colleagues published an article in which they concluded: “High-dosage ( 400 IU/d) vitamin E supplements may increase all-cause mortality and should be avoided.”
I first told you about that research in the e-Alert “The Purest Bunk” (11/16/04), which included this quote from HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., “What a joke. I can’t believe such a moronic study even got published.”
More recently, Dr. Spreen noted the upcoming anniversary in an issue of NorthStar’s Guide to Good Health e-letter. In his article, titled “The Ghost of Vitamin E: Still Haunting Us Five Years Later,” Dr. Spreen once again explains the glaring flaws in the JHU study.
More importantly, Dr. Spreen offers tips on supplementation, along with evidence that shows the safety in large vitamin E doses. In addition, he cites two recent vitamin E studies in which generous intake of the vitamin is linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular-related death, while poor intake of E is linked to higher risk of bowel cancer, breast cancer, and general physical decline.
Never too late
To the research noted above I can add another new study that’s indispensable to any many with prostate cancer or at high risk of developing the cancer.
In the e-Alert “Taking Yourself Off the List” (4/22/04), I told you about a National Cancer Institute (NCI) review of a large cancer-prevention study. Blood samples revealed that men with the highest levels of the alpha-tocopherol form of vitamin E lowered their risk of developing prostate cancer by more than 50 percent. Those with the highest levels of the gamma-tocopherol form of the vitamin lowered risk by nearly 40 percent.
In the new study (also from NCI), researchers used data from the same cancer-prevention study to examine the effects of vitamin E intake on subjects who already had prostate cancer.
They identified nearly 1,900 cases of prostate cancer. About 400 of these subjects died from their disease. Examining records that showed blood levels of alpha- tocopherol as well as vitamin E supplement intervention, they found that the highest intake of the vitamin significantly improved chances of prostate cancer survival.
That result seems like a perfect way to mark the fifth anniversary of JHU’s infamous vitamin E urban legend.
Sources:
“Meta-Analysis: High-Dosage Vitamin E Supplementation May Increase All-Cause Mortality” Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol. 142, No. 1, 1/4/05, annals.org
“Associations Between Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene, and Retinol and Prostate Cancer Survival” Cancer Research, Vol. 69, No. 9, May 2009, cancerres.aacrjournals.org
