Published on Oct, 17, 2012, CNN
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/17/multivitamins-may-prevent-cancer-in-men/
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2012/10/18/exp-cohen-mutivitamin-and-cancer-risk-in-men.cnn
Summary
For the past ten years, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School have conducted a study to test if taking multivitamins can help reduce the risk of cancer in middle-aged men. The study was conducted by first recruiting 15,000 male physicians of fifty years or older. The men were split into two groups and one group was given the multivitamin Centrum Silver and the other group was given a placebo. The men in the multivitamin group had an eight percent reduction in cancer cases compared to the placebo group. This study has shown significant data that makes people rethink whether or not vitamins help to reduce cancer or not. When the study originally started in 1997, most scientists weren't quite sure if vitamins made a difference because back then they had data that proved some vitamins were actually harmful. On the other hand, it really doesn't prove that vitamins are the way to go due to the fact that these physicians were mostly healthy people and most of the men didn't smoke. This study tells nothing about women with cancer or with people who smoke. The bottom line is, having a healthy diet with the right dose of multivitamins can help prevent cancer and health issues in general.
Connection
This article relates to our studies this term because cancer is unrestricted cell division in our body. There are many types of treatments like surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. For years and years, scientists are trying to find a solution and cure for cancer and this study suggests on way to try to prevent cancer in someone. By this study, it shows that multivitamins do reduce the risk of cancer in a person along with having a healthy diet and disproves the preexisting fear that vitamins actually stimulate cancer.
How exactly do the multivitamins help reduce the chance of getting cancer? How do we know it is not a coincidence?
ReplyDeleteThe vitamins prevent cancer by stopping the growth and proliferation of cancer cells, reducing the formation of blood vessels that help cancer spread, and reducing the amount of DNA damage that could give rise to cancer cells. But this study isn't statistically significant, meaning that it could have been a coincidence. The men in this study were healthy white men who were non-smokers and had a balanced diet. It didn't include women or smokers and in some instances adding the vitamin actually didn't change the mens' risk in cancer and actually increased the risk by adding the vitamin. The main conclusion derived from this experiment is that along with a healthy diet and the right dose of vitamins, the risk in cancer is lowered. You can read more information in this article from The Boston Globe: http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/10/17/multivitamins-lead-less-cancer-least-older-men-boston-study-suggests/zJbcP1lLiawashf7AG6GaI/story.html
DeleteDoes taking multivitamins help to prevent other health problems?
ReplyDeleteAs we learned in class, our body needs proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids, fats, and fibers. Along with these, it is essential for our body to receive vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals help to supply our body with the nutrition required for the body to function properly and for normal growth as well as playing a crucial role in metabolic processes, energy generation, reproduction, and having healthy body cells. If one isn't getting the right amount of vitamins then one could possibly get arthritis, autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, have problems with the immune system, and possibly cancer. You can read this article for more information : http://www.naturalnews.com/023628_health_vitamins_multivitamin.html
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