6 replies to this topic

[buck1s]

Got this from a post on SI. Let's discuss.

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Public release date: 15-May-2007

Contact: Liz Savage
jncimedia@oxfordjournals.org
301-841-1287
Journal of the National Cancer Institute

Heavy multivitamin use may be linked to advanced prostate cancer

The embargo has been lifted at the request of the submitting PIO.

While regular multivitamin use is not linked with early or localized prostate cancer, taking too many multivitamins may be associated with an increased risk for advanced or fatal prostate cancers, according to a study in the May 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Millions of Americans take multivitamins because of a belief in their potential health benefits, even though there is limited scientific evidence that they prevent chronic disease. Researchers have wondered what impact multivitamin use might have on cancer risk.

Karla Lawson, Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues followed 295,344 men enrolled in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study to determine the association between multivitamin use and prostate cancer risk. After five years of follow-up, 10,241 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, including 8,765 with localized cancers and 1,476 with advanced cancers.

The researchers found no association between multivitamin use and the risk of localized prostate cancer. But they did find an increased risk of advanced and fatal prostate cancer among men who used multivitamins more than seven times a week, compared with men who did not use multivitamins. The association was strongest in men with a family history of prostate cancer and men who also took selenium, beta-carotene, or zinc supplements.

“Because multivitamin supplements consist of a combination of several vitamins and men using high levels of multivitamins were also more likely to take a variety of individual supplements, we were unable to identify or quantify individual components responsible for the associations that we observed,” the authors write.

In an accompanying editorial, Goran Bjelakovic, M.D., of the University of Nis in Serbia, and Christian Gluud, M.D., of Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, discuss the positive and negative health effects of antioxidant supplements. “Lawson [and colleagues] add to the growing evidence that questions the beneficial value of antioxidant vitamin pills in generally well-nourished populations and underscore the possibility that antioxidant supplements could have unintended consequences for our health,” the authors write.
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EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 15 MAY 2007 16:00 ET

[woly]

my first thought was that they dont differentiate between high quality multivitamins (AOR, LEF) and cheap home brand multis (DL alpha toc etc)

my second thought was ....[8)]

[luv2increase]

my first thought was that they dont differentiate between high quality multivitamins (AOR, LEF) and cheap home brand multis (DL alpha toc etc)

my second thought was  ....[8)]

LOL. Your first thought was also my first thought. Also, notice how they pointed out that "the association was strongest in men with a family history of prostate cancer". So basically the study can't prove anything. The part saying, "men who also took selenium, beta-carotene, or zinc supplements", makes me wonder which one is it??? Is it the multi-vitamin or is it selenium, beta-caroteene, OR zinc. Also, they didn't indicate percentages of which factors were more determinate in the cancer outcomes. Basically, this is a study set-up to discredit multi-vitamins as a whole. I don't put any faith in it.

[buck1s]

luv, I had hoped it was a study with a less than honest intent, but this study was done by the National Cancer Institute. But then again, maybe I'm being too naive. It's very difficult to determine how powerful each risk factor is since they seem to lump them into two camps: family history, and multi/selenium/zinc consumption. All in all, the abstract is still very nebulous as to where the risk lies.

I've been using Ortho Core for a long time now and am hoping that AOR's strategy for dose levels will pay off in more way than one.

[ageless]

luv, I had hoped it was a study with a less than honest intent, but this study was done by the National Cancer Institute.  But then again, maybe I'm being too naive.  It's very difficult to determine how powerful each risk factor is since they seem to lump them into two camps:  family history, and multi/selenium/zinc consumption.  All in all, the abstract is still very nebulous as to where the risk lies.

I've been using Ortho Core for a long time now and am hoping that AOR's strategy for dose levels will pay off in more way than one.

I have faith in the dosing and ingredient forms used in AOR's Ortho Core and Multi Basics. There are strong evidence to prove both safety and efficacy of this multi. I think one of the most important steps one can take on a supplement level is to remove a possibly ineffective and at worse, a harmful multi that lines most stores and replace it with one of the new AOR multi's. When I look at possible reasons for the study above, I can see how many formulas could possibly be harmful. AOR has even stated this in their writeup about Ortho Core.
Read up on Quality vs. Quantity.
http://www.aor.ca/in.../ortho_core.php

[mike250]

I'm actually interested in their vitamin C complex. it says 120mg of Magnesium ascorbate in every serving which is 9 capsules.

The Linus Pauling Institute recommends a vitamin C intake of at least 400 mg daily -the amount that has been found to fully saturate plasma and circulating cells with vitamin C in young, healthy nonsmokers

http://lpi.oregonsta...amins/vitaminC/

from personal experience I found large doses of ascorbic acid to have pro-sexual effects- so I'm not sure about the PH neutral ascorbates-.
the article below might shed some light.

Biol Psychiatry. 2002 Aug 15;52(4):371-4.

High-dose ascorbic acid increases intercourse frequency and improves mood: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

Brody S.

Center for and the Psychosomatic and Psychobiological Research, University of Trier, Germany.

BACKGROUND: Ascorbic acid (AA) modulates catecholaminergic activity, decreases stress reactivity, approach anxiety and prolactin release, improves vascular function, and increases oxytocin release. These processes are relevant to sexual behavior and mood. METHODS: In this randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled 14 day trial of sustained-release AA (42 healthy young adults; 3000 mg/day Cetebe) and placebo (39 healthy young adults), subjects with partners recorded penile-vaginal intercourse (FSI), noncoital partner sex, and masturbation in daily diaries, and also completed the Beck Depression Inventory before and after the trial. RESULTS: The AA group reported greater FSI (but, as hypothesized, not other sexual behavior) frequency, an effect most prominent in subjects not cohabiting with their sexual partner, and in women. The AA but not placebo group also experienced a decrease in Beck Depression scores. CONCLUSIONS: AA appears to increase FSI, and the differential benefit to noncohabitants suggests that a central activation or disinhibition, rather than peripheral mechanism may be responsible.

Edited by mike250, 16 May 2007 - 01:52 PM.

[luv2increase]

Another thing to remember is one of the possible reasons as to "why" the general population take multi-vitamins in the first place. They probably are doing so in hopes of making up for a bad diet and/or lifestyle. If one has a bad lifestyle, diet, and bad genes, I don't think that a multi-vitamin (a cheap one at that) would fare well in fending off these reported cancers.