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Vitamin E may reduce risk for liver cancer

Participants who reported intake of vitamin E via diet or nutritional supplements were at a decreased risk for liver cancer in a recent population-based study.

Researchers evaluated the dietary intake of 72,486 women aged 40 to 70 years who participated in the Shanghai Women’s Health Study (1997 to 2000), and 60,351 men aged 40 to 74 years who participated in the Shanghai Men’s Health Study (2002 to 2006). Dietary habits and use of nutritional supplements were collected according to interviews and a food frequency questionnaire. Follow-up was performed for a mean of 10.9 years among women and 5.5 years for men to determine incidence rates of cancer.

Liver cancer developed in 118 women and 149 men, excluding follow-up at 2 years. These included 154 primary malignant neoplasms, 46 involving the intrahepatic bile ducts, and 67 unspecified malignant neoplasms.

An inverse association between risk for liver cancer and dietary vitamin E intake that increased according to dosage (HR=0.80; 95% CI, 0.57-1.11 for patients receiving ≤12.785 mg/day vs. HR=0.60; 95% CI, 0.40-0.89 among those receiving >16.176 mg/day). Risk also was inversely associated with use of vitamin E nutritional supplements (HR=0.52; 95% CI, 0.30-0.90 compared with nonusers). These associations remained regardless of factors such as self-reported liver disease or a family history of liver cancer.

Dietary vitamin E intake was inversely associated with primary liver malignancies (HR=0.50; 95% CI, 0.29-0.87 among participants receiving >16.176 mg/day) and those in the intrahepatic bile ducts (HR=0.51; 95% CI, 0.20-1.26 among participants receiving >16.176 mg/day). A similar inverse association was found between both types of malignancies and supplement-based vitamin E (HR=0.37; 95% CI, 0.17-0.81 for primary malignancies; HR=0.68, 95% CI, 0.21-2.20 for intrahepatic bile ducts).

“We found that high intake of vitamin E either from diet or supplements was related to lower risk of liver cancer in middle-aged or older people from China,” the researchers wrote. “The positive associations with use of vitamin C and multivitamin supplements may be a reflection of reverse causation. If confirmed, these findings could open a new venue for prevention of liver cancer.”