Small Drop in Cancer Risk with Multivitamins

A daily multiple vitamin may slightly reduce cancer risk in older men, a new study suggests. Many studies have found no benefit from high doses of single vitamins. But the new study looked instead at standard multivitamins. The study included 14,641 male doctors age 50 or older. They were randomly divided into groups. One group took a daily multiple vitamin. The other group took a placebo, or fake pill. After an average of 11 years, researchers compared cancer rates. Men who took the multivitamin were 8% less likely to be diagnosed with a new cancer than those who took the placebo. About half of the cancers were in the prostate. Most of them were early stage, with high odds of survival. There was also little difference in prostate cancer rates between the two groups. So researchers decided to look just at other cancers.