Dietary Viamins And Minerals Can Increase The Risk Of Cancer, Study Suggests

A recent research found that taking extra vitamins and dietary supplements can increase the risk of cancer. A study from the University of Colorado Cancer Center discovered that taking these over-the-counter drugs beyond the recommended dosage can cause unfavourable molecular changes.

Researcher and associate director for cancer prevention and control at the CU Cancer Center, Tim Byers, MD, MPH said that the reason why such alterations at the molecular level occurred when their study subjects took extra supplements. This current study was performed in line with previous research, which found that eating more fruits and vegetables decreases the risk of cancer. With the findings of this 20-year-old research, Byers and his team wanted to find out if the same goes for vitamins and minerals.

Byers said that they initially performed the study on animals and were able to obtain favourable results. With this, they moved on to humans as study models. For 10 years, they studied approximately thousands of individuals taking vitamins/ dietary supplements and placebos. In the end, the researchers yielded results that were far from their expectations. "We found that the supplements were actually not beneficial for their health. In fact, some people actually got more cancer while on the vitamins," confirmed Byers.

A study trial to test the effects of taking beta-carotene supplements more than the recommended dosage also showed unexpected results. The researchers found that this practice yielded a 20 percent increase in the risk of the participants having lung cancer and heart disease. Additionally, an increase in the number of colon polyps were also noted after a study group were asked to take in extra folic acid. Folic acid has long been known to do the exact opposite.

"This is not to say that people need to be afraid of taking vitamins and minerals," says Byers. "If taken at the correct dosage, multivitamins can be good for you. But there is no substitute for good, nutritional food." He further advised the public to eat healthy meals and consume adequate nutritious food, as practicing this may not require the administration of dietary vitamins and minerals. In conclusion, Byers said that they indeed discovered that it is more damaging to take in extra dietary supplements than it is beneficial.

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