Multivitamins positively affect breast cancer outcomes

Taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement could increase the chances of long term survival in people with invasive breast cancer, according to a new study in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. Researchers examined data for thousands of postmenopausal women and found that the risk of dying from invasive breast cancer was 30% lower among multivitamin/mineral users compared with nonusers. 

The research was conducted as part of the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trials and the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study of 161,608 postmenopausal women ages 50 to 79 when they first joined the study. The current study focused on 7,728 participants who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during the WHI and were followed for an average of seven years after their diagnosis.