Vitamin pills don't cut lung cancer risk

People who take vitamin supplements are just as likely as those who don't to develop lung cancer, according to a study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 77,721 people in Washington state ages 50 to 76 were tracked over the prior decade of supplemental multivitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E and folate to see if it would offer protection from lung cancer.

Current smokers had a very small but statistically significant elevated risk if taking higher doses of vitamin E, the researchers said. Of the people in the study, 521 developed lung cancer, the vast majority of them were smokers. No benefit or harm was observed for intake of multivitamins, vitamin C, or folate.

Bonnie - this is yet another example of an ill-conceived study when it comes to researching vitamins. After gathering their supplement history over ten years, the researchers only followed the subjects for four years, which is infantile for the study of prevention of a disease like lung cancer. I would not expect to see any significant results with its "drug" study design.