Vitamin E and Lung Cancer
Sorting Out Truth and Hyperbole
Discovered in 1922, vitamin E is a family of eight forms with four tocopherol types and four tocotrienol types. Alpha-tocopherol is the natural form the body uses. The traditional value of the antioxidant vitamin E is to protect cells against free radicals, repair DNA, form red blood cells and reduce physical aging. Almonds, hazelnuts, avocados, olives, sunflower seeds, peanut butter, sweet potatoes, whole grains and leafy greens like spinach and kale are rich in vitamin E. Interestingly, vitamin E has the reputation as lacking in many people’s diets.
Most multivitamins contain vitamin E. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for vitamin E is 23 IU (equivalent to 15 mg) for adults, which is only the minimum amount that avoids a deficiency. A maintenance value is a healthier amount promoted by experts, and for vitamin E that is 400 IU. D-alpha-tocopherol is the natural form while dl-alpha-tocopherol is the synthetic form that has half the effectiveness of the natural.
Lung Cancer Facts
Lung cancer is the most common and deadliest type of cancer with 215,000 individuals diagnosed in the United States each year and 160,000 reported deaths. Smoking causes eighty percent of lung cancer. The second leading cause of lung cancer is radon exposure. Those who do not smoke but are exposed to second-hand smoke increase their risk of developing lung cancer by up to 30%. African Americans have the highest diagnosis rate and highest death rate.
An Exciting Lung Cancer Study Using Dietary Vitamin E
A lung cancer study at the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center was reported in the September 2008 issue of the International Journal of Cancer. Researchers studied the benefits of the four tocopherol forms of vitamin E in the diet of about 1500 healthy people and about 1000 lung cancer patients. All the subjects were about 61 years old.
The results showed that those who consumed the highest amount of dietary vitamin E per day (more than 7.73 mg) had a 53% reduction in lung cancer risk compared to those who consumed the lowest amount (4.13 mg). Alpha-tocopherol was the only form of vitamin E to show this result.
A Questionable Vitamin E Supplement Study
A study of 77,126 men and women who used vitamin E supplements over a 10-year period found a small increased risk of lung cancer. However, the study made no delineation of which form of vitamin E was used, the small increased risk was barely significant, and the increased risk applied only to current smokers. This study looked backwards in time, and depended on people's memories; this often produces erroneous results. The study was e-published in the November 2007 issue of the American Journal of Respiration and Critical Care Medicine.
A Vitamin E Bias
Analysts at the Linus Pauling Institute, a Center of Excellence for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine set up by the National Institutes of Health, have complained about biased researchers and ill-designed studies eager to show supplements in a bad light. Experts have pointed out that the media are wont to sensationalize and misrepresent vitamin E studies in the style of The National Inquirer. Perhaps the media must be cognizant of big corporations that pay the bills that don’t want to admit that food choices or supplements may do what expensive drugs do.
Cut Your Risk of Lung Cancer
Of course, the best way to avoid lung cancer is not to smoke. Next, stoke your nutrition with the strong vitamin E food sources noted above. Then, unless you are a perfect eater, take a multivitamin. Moreover, always dig out the truth, think for yourself and monitor your own health. Consider that one tablespoon of wheat germ oil provides 26 IU, just about the RDA for healthful, antioxidant vitamin E.
Vitamin E supplements can act as a blood thinner so always seek the advice of your health care professional.
Reference
“Antioxidants and Cancer Therapy.” Suite 101, accessed January 14, 2009.
Almonds and sunflower seeds are high in vitamin E.
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