Warning on Tomatoes and Prostate Cancer

Photo: C.P. Storm/Creative CommonsBad news: lycopene, an anti-oxidant found in large quantities in tomatoes, doesn't prevent prostate cancer.Worse news: Beta-carotene might actually increase the risk of developing an aggressive form of prostate cancer, according to a study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.So men can stop stuffing themselves with tomatoes in

Warning on Vitamins and Prostate Cancer

Men who take too many vitamins may (or may not) increase their risk of developing an aggressive form of prostate cancer, according to preliminary evidence published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Of the dozen or so articles I've read about the study, the best is by Liz Szabo in USA Today.Right up front, Szabo lets you know that even if the suggested link turns out to be true,

Why 68 Vitamin Studies Are Better than None

Not all scientific studies are created equal--a fact that most reporters don't make note of in their stories. The recent study from Europe that concludes that taking vitamins may be harmful to your health is a perfect case in point.It's not really a new study--in the way most of us think of studies. The investigators, lead by Dr. Goran Bjelakovic of Denmark, did not recruit thousands or hundreds

Vitamins May--or May Not--Shorten Your Life

Lots to chew on in a recent study that concludes that taking vitamin supplements may shorten your lifespan. Look at how much is hanging on that single word “may.” Vitamins may shorten your life--or they may not. The researchers and the journalists writing about the study are definitely hedging their bets.The closer you look at health stories, the more you realize that “may” and other hedge words

More on Vitamins and Pregnancy

One of the hardest parts about writing health stories is figuring out what to leave out. Last Friday I wrote a post that focused on prenatal vitamins and the risk of pediatric cancer. Although the vitamins reduced the risk of some cancers by 50 percent, I calculated that that was not a huge change because the absolute risk of getting cancer in childhood is so low."But isn't taking vitamins during

Vitamins Reduce Cancer Risk--Relatively Speaking

A new study shows that women who take multivitamins and folic acid during pregnancy reduce the chance that their baby will develop some childhood cancers by almost 50%. Your first question on reading this should be "50% of what?"In other words, you want to know what the absolute risk of developing pediatric cancer is. Then you can figure out whether a 50% reduction (the so-called relative risk)