February 6, 2012. In the January, 2012 issue of the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, researchers from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia reveal the finding of a protective effect for vitamins and minerals against colon cancer in rats.Two-thirds of a group of sixty male rats were injected with the colon-specific carcinogen DMH weekly for 15 weeks. Animals that did not receive DMH were subdivided to receive a regular diet or a diet enhanced with vitamins and minerals. While one group of carcinogen-treated animals received no supplementation, the remainder received supplemented diets during the 15 weeks DMH was administered, for 16 weeks after the carcinogen was administered, or throughout the 32-week treatment period. Lipid peroxidation products and antioxidant enzyme levels were measured in blood and tissue at the end of the experiment, and the animals were examined for aberrant crypt foci, a precursor of colorectal adenoma.
Rats that received DMH had higher levels of lipid peroxidation and lower antioxidant status in comparison with animals that did not receive the carcinogen; however, vitamin and mineral supplementation reversed these trends. Supplemented animals experienced a significant reduction in aberrant crypt foci compared to carcinogen-treated rats that received unsupplemented diets.
The authors conclude that "multivitamin and mineral supplements synergistically contribute to the cancer chemopreventative potential, and hence, regular supplements of multivitamins and minerals could reduce the risk of colon cancer."
"It has been unclear whether multivitamin supplementation to cancer patients is helpful, has no effect, or is even detrimental during therapy," remarked Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology editor Dr Grant Pierce. "This study is important because it gives some direction to cancer patients in desperate need of guidance on the value of multivitamins and minerals administered during cancer."
http://www.lef.org/whatshot/2012_02.htm#vitamin-mineral-colon-cancer
