Avoiding Prostate Cancer - Two Setbacks

Robert W. Griffith, MD

Over the years the view has emerged that eating tomatoes or tomato products can protect one against prostate cancer. The most likely agent for this effect was considered to be the carotenoid antioxidant, lycopene. A new report in Cancer, Epidemiology Biomarkers, and Prevention counters this theory. 692 men in a collective of over 28,000 developed prostate cancer over an 8-year period. There was no association between serum lycopene levels and the development of prostate cancer or the risk of aggressive cancer. Elevated beta-carotene levels, on the other hand, were linked to an increased risk, which reached a 3-fold increased risk for distant-stage disease.

The other setback is a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. A quarter of a million men were enrolled in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study and followed over 5 years. Multivitamin supplement use was assessed by questionnaire. There was no link between multivitamins and the risk of localized prostate cancer, but there was an increased risk of advanced and fatal prostate cancer - up to twice as great - in men reporting excessive use of multivitamins (more than 7 times a week), compared to never-users.

Two setbacks, two lessons. Initial results can often be proved wrong, even after a considerable time. And there should be no need to take multivitamins (or any other supplements) if one eats a healthy diet (including tomatoes!).

Source
HealthandAge Blog

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