New Studies Suggest Which Form Of Vitamin E Is Cancer Preventive

New Studies Suggest Which Form Of Vitamin E Is Cancer Preventive
Good news for cancer research! The American Association for Cancer Research, published online in April 2012, the results of studies they performed on Vitamin E. Researcher Chung S. Yang, Director of the Center for Cancer Prevention Research of Rutgers University, and his fellow scientist, conducted animal studies as well as human epidemiological studies.Their goal was to examine the connection between vitamin E and cancer.

Yang stated that the Rutgers scientist conducted the animal studies for colon, lung, prostate, and breast cancer. They found that gamma and delta-tocopherol forms of vitamin E prevented cancer formation and growth in the animal studies.

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

There have been a number of studies on humans which have concluded there were no benefits for the use of vitamin E for cancer. However these studies have used the form alpha-tocopherol which is the most commonly recognized form of vitamin E. The Rutgers scientist used gamma and delta-tocopherols. These forms of vitamin E can be found in soybeam, canola oil, vegtable oils, and nuts.

Yang boldly commented, “Our message is that the vitamin E form of gamma-tocopherols, the most abundant form of vitamin E in the American diet, and delta-tocopherols, also found in vegetable oils, are beneficial in preventing cancers while the form of vitamin E, alpha-tocopherol, the most commonly used in vitamin E supplements, has no such benefit.”

Yang went on to say, “ For people who think that they need to take vitamin E supplements, taking a mixture of vitamin E that resembles what is in our diet would be the most prudent supplement to take.”

The studies Abstract can be read on the Cancer Prevention Research’s website.

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