Vitamin supplements can Increase Breast Cancer Risk

Many people use multivitamins as a dietary supplements in the belief that they will protect them from chronic diseases like heart disease, and cancer..

But what do the current medicine is telling us about using theses multivitamins?!.

Researchers in Sweden who studied data on over 35,000 middle aged and older women followed for 10 years found a link between taking multivitamins and increased risk of breast cancer. For the prospective study, lead and they looked at data from 35,329 women in the Swedish Mammography Cohort, who filled in questionnaires about their use of multivitamins and breast cancer risk factors.
The women were cancer free and aged between 49 and 83 when they filled in the questionnaires in 1997. The results showed that 974 women were diagnosed with incident breast cancer over a mean follow up of 9.5 years. 293 of the diagnoses were among 9,017 women who reported using multivitamins. After adjusting for lifestyle and risk factors like weight, diet, smoking, exercise, and family history of breast cancer,the Use of multivitamins was linked to a statistically significant 19 per cent increased risk of breast cancer.

This startling connection between multi-vitamins and breast cancer occurrence had prompted doctors to caution older women against a daily multi-vitamin, unless absolutely needed. According to the results of a Swedish study, the vitamins may be linked to breast cancer.

The critical apraisal of This Study 
 
The study has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.The study was led by Dr. Susanna C. Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm .

If you analyze this statement, "The study followed 35,000 Swedish women between the ages of 49 and 83 over a ten year period. All the women were cancer free at the onset, with 974 developing breast cancer throughout the course of the study.", you find that the statistical impact is 0.02%.

And if you analyze this statement, "Only 681 of the remaining 26,000 women developed breast cancer." , you find that the statistical impact is 0.02%.

And in conclusion, the report says, "A relatively small number of women who took the daily vitamins were diagnosed with breast cancer, which lends to the suggestion that if there is a risk, it is very modest."

Also did they take into account that women who take multivitamins are usually more likely than others to get mammograms and other medical scans which cause in the incidence of cancer not because they have more risks but because they are more healthy conscious and the get diagnosed with breast cancer better and earlier

Another negative point for this study is that there is no definition of exactly what multi-vitamins were used int he studies, and this is a critical concern, as most vitamin studies done in the mainstream use low quality or too low dose products.

So in conclusion, the report says, "A relatively small number of women who took the daily vitamins were diagnosed with breast cancer, which lends to the suggestion that if there is a risk, it is very modest."

Dr Gilbert Ross, medical director for the American Council on Science and Health, said: 'If you really want to take multivitamins, this study is no reason to stop. Of course, on the other hand, I would advise anyone concerned that there is no good health or medical reason to take multivitamin supplements, except in rare cases of malnutrition.'

In her conclusion Larsson advises that women, who are eating a well-balanced diet, do not need a multi-vitamin.

In the end The moral of this story is don't be fooled by headlines and yes, and digest what you read. In fact, in February 2009, the Archives of Internal Medicine published details of a large US study of over 160,000 postmenopausal women that found no convincing evidence that long term use of multivitamins changed their risk of developing common cancers, cardiovascular disease or dying prematurely.