Multivitamins May Supplement Cancer Survival
About
a third of Americans take a multivitamin with minerals — the most
commonly used type of dietary supplement in the US. A new study looked
at the impact of this use on breast cancer survival.
Multivitamins May Supplement Cancer Survival
About
a third of Americans take a multivitamin with minerals — the most
commonly used type of dietary supplement in the US. A new study looked
at the impact of this use on breast cancer survival.Video Overview: Multivitamins May Supplement Cancer Survival
Being careful not to state a clear cause-and-effect relationship, the researchers did find that older breast cancer survivors who took supplements containing both multivitamins and minerals had lower risks of dying from the disease than women who didn’t take the supplements.
The postmenopausal women who took the supplements before their breast cancer diagnosis had a 30 percent lower risk of death than non-users, the study discovered.
"Tell your doctor about all supplements that you take."
Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, PhD, distinguished university professor emerita of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, and colleagues examined data from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Clinical Trials and the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study to determine if multivitamin/mineral (MVM) supplements impacted mortality rates.
The WHI enrolled 161,608 postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 79 in 40 clinical centers throughout the US during the years 1993 to 1998. During the study, participants were continually monitored about their health and lifestyle habits, including supplement use.
The current research studied information on the 7,728 women who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during the WHI.
Breast cancer that spreads beyond its original location into the breast tissue is considered invasive.
The researchers learned that 37.8 percent of the breast cancer survivors reported MVM use at the time they enrolled in WHI. Within this group, 76.7 percent of the women said they were taking MVM at the WHI visit closest to their breast cancer diagnosis.
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The survivors were followed for just over seven years after their cancer diagnosis.
The researchers found that compared to non-users, women who took the MVM supplements had the following characteristics:
- slightly older
- more likely to be white
- higher income and education levels
- lower body mass index (BMI) — a measure of body fat
- more active with better overall health
- less likely to have a history of diabetes
The researchers’ analysis determined that women who took multiple vitamin/mineral supplements before their breast cancer diagnosis were 30 percent less likely to die of their cancer than were women who did not take MVM.
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This protective benefit held even after accounting for a number of other factors, including the following:
- age at diagnosis
- weight
- smoking stauts
- race/ethnicity
- education
- weight and BMI
- physical activity levels
- alcohol use
- depression
“The results suggest a possible role for daily MVM use in attenuating breast cancer mortality in women with invasive breast cancer but the findings require confirmation,” the authors concluded.
Results from this study were published in the October issue of Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.
The Women’s Health Initiative is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
No conflicts of interest were reported.
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