Some Forms Of Vitamin E Lower Cancer Risk

Vitamin E is a complex substance that comes in many different forms. Not all of those forms may be equally beneficial. According to researchers at Rutgers, the types of vitamin E generally found in nuts and vegetable oil, known as gamma- and delta-tocopherols, may lower your risk of colon, lung, breast and prostate cancer. However, alpha-tocopherol, found in many vitamin E supplements, does not have the same benefits.

“There are studies suggesting that vitamin E actually increases the risk of cancer and decreases bone density,” says Chung S. Yang, director of the Center for Cancer Prevention Research at Rutgers. “Our message is that the vitamin E form of gamma-tocopherols, the most abundant form of vitamin E in the American diet, and delta-tocopherols, also found in vegetable oils, are beneficial in preventing cancers while the form of vitamin E, alpha-tocopherol, the most commonly used in vitamin E supplements, has no such benefit.”

“For people who think that they need to take vitamin E supplements,” Yang says, “taking a mixture of vitamin E that resembles what is in our diet would be the most prudent supplement to take.”