High Levels of Vitamin E Fractions Linked to Reduced Risk of Prostate Cancer

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 02 - High circulating levels of the major

vitamin E fractions, alpha- and gamma-tocopherol, seem to cut the risk of

prostate cancer by about 50% each, according to a report in the Journal of

the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for March 2.

The findings are based on a case-control analysis of 100 prostate cancer

patients and 200 controls randomly selected from the Alpha-Tocopherol,

Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study, which included nearly 30,000

Finnish men.

Men in the highest tertile for alpha-tocopherol levels at baseline were 51%

less likely to develop prostate cancer than those in the lowest tertile, Dr.

Demetrius Albanes, from the NCI in Bethesda, land, and colleagues note.

Similarly, the highest tertile for gamma-tocopherol levels cut the risk by

43% compared with the lowest tertile.

Further analysis showed that the link between high tocopherol levels and low

cancer risk was stronger among subjects using alpha-tocopherol supplements

than among non-users, the investigators point out.

" The antioxidant activity of vitamin E may be particularly important to the

observed associations because oxidative stress has been implicated in

prostate carcinogenesis, " the authors note. However, alpha-tocopherol has

other non-antioxidant properties, such as enhancement of the immune

response, which may also play a role in the benefits seen, they add.

J Natl Cancer Inst 2005;97:396-399.