Vitamin pills that won’t protect you

AFTER following more than 60,000 people for more than a dozen years, University of Oxford researchers found those who consume a plant-based diet were less likely to develop all forms of cancer combined. The greatest protection appeared to be against blood cancers. The incidence of leukaemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma among those eating vegetarian diets is nearly half that of meat-eaters. Yale University researchers followed more than 500 women with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for about eight years. Those who started out eating three or more servings of vegetables daily had a 42 per cent improved survival rate over those who ate less. Green, leafy vegetables — including salad and cooked greens — and citrus fruits seemed to offer the most protection. But you shouldn’t wait for a cancer diagnosis before you at least start adding some of these to your diet. The Iowa Women’s Health Study, which has followed more than 35,000 women for decades, found eating more broccoli, cauliflower, kale and other cruciferous vegetables was associated with a lower risk of getting non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the first place. Likewise, a study at the Mayo Clinic found that those who ate about five or more servings of green, leafy vegetables a week had roughly half the odds of getting lymphoma — compared with those who ate less than one serving a week. Some of the plant-based protection may well have been due to the antioxidant properties of fruits and vegetables. So wouldn’t an antioxidant supplement do just as well? Afraid not. For example, getting lots of vitamin C through your diet is associated with lower lymphoma risk — but upping your intake of vitamin C tablets doesn’t seem to help. And the same is true of carotenoid antioxidants, such as beta-carotene. Apparently, pills simply don’t have the same cancer-fighting effects as food. And when it comes to certain other cancers, like those of the digestive tract, antioxidant supplements may even make things worse. Combinations of vitamin A, vitamin E and beta-carotene in pill form were associated with increased risk of death. Why? Probably because supplements contain only a few antioxidants, whereas your body relies on hundreds of them all working together. High doses of a single antioxidant may therefore upset this delicate balance and diminish your body’s ability to fight cancer.