VidCast: https://youtu.be/Xue5gu5TAe8

 

Everyone assumes that Vitamin supplements in reasonable quantities are safe and beneficial.  Investigators at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital now show that for Vitamin E and cancer that assumption is dead wrong.  The word dead is significant.

 

The enzyme that controls how the body uses Vitamin E comes in 3 genetic variants.  It turns out that women with the met-met variant who taking Vitamin E had a 14% lower cancer incidence while those with the val-val variant and taking the Vitamin E had a 15% higher incidence of cancer.

We’re only beginning to understand human genetics, and most of us do not know which specific gene variants we have.  Until we do, we should all be cautious about taking any supplements except to correct deficiencies.  The smart money remains on eating a balanced, healthy diet and avoiding supplements.

#Vitamin E #women #cancer #healthnews #healthtips

Hall, K et al. COMT modifies alpha-tocopherol effects in cancer prevention: gene-supplement interactions in two randomized clinical trials. JNCI, 2019 DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djy204