Antioxidants not a risk for melanoma

A recent study set up a scare that supplements such as vitamins C and E, beta carotene, selenium and zinc which are used for cancer prevention. It seemed to suggest that daily supplementation with these antioxidants increased the risk of melanoma in women four-fold. This was very worrying as nearly 50 percent of the UK and US populations regularly use supplements so a new study was set up at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland.

Researchers there examined the association between antioxidants and melanoma among 69,671 women and men who were participating in the Vitamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) study, designed to examine supplement use and cancer risk. Their exhaustive study of the records showed that they did not find any link between blood levels of beta carotene, vitamin E and selenium and any subsequent risk of melanoma.

So if you are a regular supplement user, the fear of melanoma has just been debunked.