One of the largest, longest, placebo-controlled clinical trials ever done on the use of a daily multivitamin/mineral to prevent cancer in men has shown a remarkable 8 percent drop in overall cancers during a 13-year study period -– findings that may have repercussions on health care around the world.
Scientists in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, who have studied related issues for years said it conclusively shows that multivitamins are safe to take, help fill important nutritional gaps, reduce cancer risk and in turn will help cut health care costs.
“An 8 percent drop in overall cancer rates is not small,” said Balz Frei, clinical director of the Linus Pauling Institute, and an international expert on the role of vitamins and micro-nutrients in promoting health and preventing disease.
“More than 1.6 million new cancer cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, this translates into about 130,000 cancers prevented every year, and with it all the health care costs and human suffering; the research was done with 14,600 physicians,” Frei said. “This highly-educated group has a better diet, knowledge base and health habits than the average person, so it’s reasonable to believe that the impact of multivitamin use in the general population will be even greater.”
“We’ve known for a long time that something as simple as a multivitamin can help fill nutritional gaps, even if you try to eat right,” Frei said. “Research showed 90 percent of the U.S. population doesn’t get enough vitamin E, and 40 percent of elderly Americans have inadequate zinc in their diet.”
“Quite simply, at one penny a day, a multivitamin is the cheapest health insurance a person will ever buy,” he said.
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