Originally published October 25 2005
French research reveals that vitamins can prevent bowel cancer
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Researchers report in the Journal of Nutrition that vitamins C and B can prevent adenomas from developing in the bowels.
They compared intake of dietary vitamins and beta-carotene in more than 400 adults without adenomas - benign tumours that are precursors to cancer of the colon or rectum - with 360 adenoma cases.
They adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and energy and alcohol intakes and smoking status.
Writing in this month's issue of the Journal of Nutrition (135:2468-2472), the scientists report that folate and vitamins C and B6 were inversely related to adenoma risk whereas vitamin D tended to be inversely associated with risk.
They also found a significant interaction between beta-carotene and smoking, confirming the results of previous studies looking at this nutrient's link to cancer risk.
In non-smokers however, beat-carotene was inversely associated with adenoma risk, especially that of colon adenomas whereas in past or current smokers, the carotenoid was associated with a nonsignificant increase in the risk of colon adenomas.
The effects of vitamins and beta-carotene on the risk of colorectal adenomas had not been fully investigated before.
The authors thus concluded: "Our findings support a protective effect of folate and vitamins C and B6 irrespective of smoking habits, and a protective effect of beta-carotene in non-smokers only."
Smokers should be cautious about taking high doses of beta-carotene, they added.
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