years have cast these conclusions into doubt. now seems more and more probable that the protection againstcancer that offered by fruits and vegetables is due mostly to their phytochemical content. No clinical study has ever shown that pe massive doses of vitamin supplements can help bring about any sort of preyentive effect against cancer and other chrome diseases. The results of numerous studies carried out on this field have pointed instead in exactly the opposite direction there is an iria redseen the risk of death associated with taking high doses of vitamin supplements. example, two studies done on the effect of high supplemental doses of vitamin A or betacafobene(the molecule that synthesizes vitamin A in o bodies) on the risk developing lung gancer for smokers showed that the daily sorption of this vitamin does not reduce their
mortality rate due to cancer On the contrary. the risk actually increased(one study showed 28 per cent more cancers and 17 per cent more deaths in the subjects who Fecéived the vitamin supplement). The negative effect of supplements containing high doses of vitamins has also been in non-smokers. Another receni tudy showed that high doses'of vitamin s he development of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract(colorectal, liver, pancreatic, and stomach cancers): in fact, the only effect observed was a slight increase in mortality rates. Even more disturBingly, according another study taking IU per day of supplemental vitamin E also causes a slight increase in overall mortality rates If you find it difficult to obfain recommended daily allowances of vitamins without taking supplements, you should take steps to reduce the doses contained in these tablets as much as possible. Tellingly, one of the only results that suggested a preventive effect of vitamin supplements the fight was the of a study that vitamin concentrations comparable to those naturally occurring in foods