News
Vitamin B1 may help diabetic kidney health
4 February 2009
High-dose vitamin B1 supplements may protect against kidney damage, a condition said to threaten one in three diabetics, according to a study.
10 December 2009
Antioxidant supplements may prevent the development of new colon polyps in people with a history of colorectal tumors, says a new study.
In the randomized controlled trial, 411 participants received either placebo or an antioxidant supplement providing daily doses of 200 micrograms of selenomethionnine, 30 milligrams of zinc, 6,000 IU of vitamin A, 180 milligrams of vitamin C, and 30 milligrams of vitamin E (1). All the participants had already undergone surgery to remove one or more benign colorectal tumors (adenomatous polyps) that, in time, could progress to cancer. At the end of the study people in the antioxidant group experienced a 40 percent reduction in the incidence of new polyps of the large bowel. The benefit observed after the conclusion of the trial persisted through 13 years of follow up.
The study represents another step on the ladder of supporting the potential anti-cancer effects of antioxidant supplements and selenium. While the science may be lacking for colon health, a greater body of science exists for prostate health. A number of studies have reported that the nutrients, alone or in combination, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
Despite great promise over vitamin E and selenium, recent results from the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) reported no significant differences between any of the groups in relation to prostate cancer risk (2). However, experts criticized that given positive results from previous clinical trials and epidemiological studies, the design of SELECT, including the supplements used, may have undermined the results.
4 February 2009
High-dose vitamin B1 supplements may protect against kidney damage, a condition said to threaten one in three diabetics, according to a study.
1 February 2014
The use of nutritional supplements is increasingly common in the developed world, with multivitamins – containing at least three vitamins and one mineral – being the most popular type of dietary supplement.
1 February 2016
Professor Kathryn Dewey of the Nutrition Department of the University of California, Davis, was the principal investigator of a cluster-randomized controlled effectiveness trial in Bangladesh which demonstrated that a small, lipid-based micronutrient supplement could help reduce stunting in newborn babies.