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Prevention

Vitamin E leaves bitter aftertaste

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 8, page 692 (2011)Cite this article

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Taking a common dose and formulation of vitamin E as a dietary supplement increases the risk of prostate cancer. This “observation of important public health concern,” as described by the authors, was made after extended follow-up of the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT).

With a lifetime risk of 16%, the incidence of prostate cancer is relatively high in the USA. SELECT was initiated after epidemiological data indicated that selenium and vitamin E might reduce prostate-cancer risk. About 35,000 healthy men were enrolled between 2001 and 2004 at over 420 study sites across North America and equally allocated to one of four treatment groups: selenium (20 μg/day) plus placebo, vitamin E (400 IU/day) plus placebo, selenium plus vitamin E, or placebo only. After a median follow-up of 5.5 years, participants stopped taking the supplements when it became clear in 2008 that no reduction in prostate cancer was achieved by any intervention. Concerned by a slight—albeit statistically insignificant—increase in prostate-cancer risk of participants who took vitamin E only, the trial safety monitoring committee decided extended monitoring would be needed to assess a potential harm of vitamin E supplementation in this population.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Klein et al. Vitamin E and the risk of prostate cancer. The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Trial (SELECT). JAMA 306, 1546–1556 (2011)

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  1. Christoph A. Schmitt
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Schmitt, C. Vitamin E leaves bitter aftertaste. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 8, 692 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2011.162

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