Natural Vitamin E Slashes Lung Cancer Risk by 55 Percent

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Natural Vitamin E Slashes Lung Cancer Risk by 55 Percent

David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com   May 11, 2009

 

(NaturalNews) A higher intake of vitamin E can cut the risk of lung cancer by

more than half, researchers from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer

Center has found.

 

In a new study published in the International Journal of Cancer, researchers

used the National Cancer Institute's Health Habits and History Questionnaire and

Food Frequency Questionnaire to assess the dietary intakes of 1,088 lung cancer

patients and 1,414 healthy participants. Participants were further surveyed

about various lifestyle factors, including smoking.

 

The average age of the healthy participants was 60.8, while the average age of

the lung cancer participants was 61.7.

 

Vitamin E occurs in two main groups, the tocopherols and tocotrienols. Each of

these groups, in turn, contains four varieties, named alpha, beta, gamma and

delta. For the current study, the researchers analyzed participants' dietary

tocopherol intake, dividing it up based on which form it occurred in.

 

" To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to compare dietary

intakes of the different forms of tocopherols (alpha-, beta-, gamma and

delta-tocopherol) and lung cancer risk, " the researchers wrote.

 

The researchers divided participants into groups based on intake of tocopherols

in general and the four different varieties individually, then compared the rate

of lung cancer between the groups.

 

Participants with the highest tocopherol intake were found to have a 55 percent

lower risk of lung cancer than participants with the lowest intakes. The average

intakes of the two groups were more than 12.95 milligrams per day and less than

6.68 milligrams per day, respectively.

 

A powerful protective correlation also showed up for alpha-tocopherol, with

those consuming the most having a 53 percent lower risk of lung cancer than

those with the lowest intake. The highest alpha-tocopherol intake averaged more

than 7.73 milligrams per day, while the lowest averaged less than 4.13

milligrams per day.

 

Higher consumption of beta-, gamma- or delta-tocopherol alone, however, appeared

to have no influence on cancer risk.

 

" We found consistent independent associations for increased dietary

alpha-tocopherol intake and risk reduction but did not find independent

associations for gamma-, beta- and delta-tocopherol in lung cancer risk, " the

researchers wrote.

 

The European diet typically contains vitamin E in the form of alpha-tocopherol,

while the U.S. diet tends to contain it in the form of gamma-tocopherol. Vitamin

pills contain mostly alpha-tocopherol.

 

The study was not designed to analyze by what mechanism tocopherols in general

or alpha-tocopherol in particular might act to reduce cancer risk.

 

" Our data should be useful in stimulating additional epidemiologic and basic

science research in the relationship of different forms of vitamin E and

cancer, " the researchers wrote.

 

Foods high in vitamin E include asparagus, avocado, green leafy vegetables,

nuts, olives, seeds and wheat germ. A variety of vegetable oils, including

canola, corn, cottonseed, red palm, sunflower and soybean are also high in the

vitamin.

 

The new study is not the first to link vitamin E with cancer protection. The

vitamin is well known to function as an antioxidant, meaning that it plays an

important role in removing particles known as free radicals from the body. These

electrically charged molecules are believed to be responsible for some of the

cell damage that leads to cancer, other diseases, and the symptoms of aging.

 

Research has also suggested that vitamin E may help prevent or slow age-related

decline. Elderly people with higher blood levels of the vitamin tend to be in

better physical shape, while another study found that taking a vitamin E pill

with a high-fat meal can stave off the memory decline that such foods tend to

trigger in older adults.

 

Lung cancer is the world's most common cancer, and is responsible for more

deaths than any other kind. In the Western world, it is the second most common

cancer, but still the deadliest. Only 25 percent of cancer patients are still

alive a year after diagnosis.

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