Dietary Vitamin E May Prevent Certain Cancers

PISCATAWAY, N.J.The question of whether vitamin E prevents or promotes cancer has been widely debated; however, new research published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research suggests two forms of vitamin Egamma and delta-tocopherolsfound in soybean, canola, corn oils and nuts may help prevent colon, lung, breast and prostate cancers.

Researchers at the Center for Cancer Prevention Research, at Rutgers Mario School of Pharmacy, and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey examined animal studies conducted at Rutgers as well as human epidemiological studies that have examined the connection between vitamin E and cancer. Rutgers scientists conducting animal studies for colon, lung, breast and prostate cancer found the forms of vitamin E in vegetable oilsgamma and delta-tocopherolsprevent cancer formation and growth in animal models.

When animals are exposed to cancer-causing substances, the group that was fed these tocopherols in their diet had fewer and smaller tumors," they said. When cancer cells were injected into mice these tocopherols also slowed down the development of tumors."

In researching colon cancer, the researchers pointed to another recently published paper in Cancer Prevention Research indicating the delta-tocopherol form of vitamin E was more effective than other forms of vitamin E in suppressing the development of colon cancer in rats.