HHS HealthBeat (June 12, 2007)

Multivitamins and lung cancer

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of lung cancer – not as much as quitting smoking, but some. But many don’t eat the fruits and vegetables they should. So researchers wondered if vitamins in produce created the benefit – and if people could gain from taking vitamins.

Chris Slatore of the University of Washington examined vitamin supplement use and lung cancer in more than 77,000 people, in which there were 521 cases of lung cancer. He presented his study, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, at an American Thoracic Society conference.

``Supplemental multivitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E and folate – didn’t protect against lung cancer, looking at use over a 10-year time span.’’ (9 seconds)

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011