Vitamin E & Lung Cancer

There are eight forms of vitamin E: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). While gamma-tocopherol is the most common form of vitamin E in the American diet, a new study from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center reports that intakes of vitamin E in the alpha-tocopherol form were associated with consistent and independent reductions in lung cancer risk.* According to this study, increasing intakes of vitamin E may decrease the risk of lung cancer by over 50%. Author Somdat Mahabir and his coworkers reported the results from an ongoing study involving 1,088 patients with lung cancer (average age 61.7) and 1,414 healthy controls (average age 60.8). The researchers calculated that the highest average intakes of alpha-tocopherol (more than 7.73 mg per day) were associated with a reduction in lung cancer risk. The researchers found consistent, independent associations for increased dietary alpha-tocopherol intake and risk reduction. They are hoping that this study is useful in stimulating additional research regarding the relationship of different forms of vitamin E and cancer.

Worldwide, lung cancer is the most common cancer in terms of both incidence and mortality (1.35 million new cases per year and 1.18 million deaths), with the highest rates in Europe and North America.

Vitamin E can be found in the Viteyes AREDS formulas, Viteyes® Complete and Viteyes Multivitamin AREDS Companion.

* S. Mahabir, K. Schendel, Y.Q. Dong, S.L. Barrera, M.R. Spitz, M.R. Forman. “Dietary alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-tocopherols in lung cancer risk.” International Journal of Cancer. Volume 123, Pages 1173-1180.