A new study shows that taking daily multivitamin slightly lowers the risk of cancer in older men. According to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The men in the trial took the popular multivitamin Centrum Silver, which is produced by Pfizer.
The results go against other studies in recent years that have shown no positive effect of vitamins on cancer rates. Some past studies have shown such supplements can be harmful. But many of those studies were focused on individual vitamins, such as vitamin D and vitamin B6. In this new study, researchers analyzed data collected as part of the Physicians’ Health Study II, which followed 14,641 male doctors age 50 and older for an average of 11.2 years. During that time, the doctors were randomized into groups that received either the multivitamin or a placebo.
The results compared against the doctors taking the placebo, the doctors who took the multivitamin were 8% less likely to develop any form of cancer over the course of the study. The overall cancer rates were 17.6% in the multivitamin group and 18.8% in the placebo group.
via LA Times