Daily vitamins vs. cancer

Consuming a daily vitamin pill may play a role in preventing chronic disease, a new study finds.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, followed nearly 15,000 older male physicians for more than a decade, finding those taking daily multivitamins experienced 8 percent fewer cases of cancer compared to subjects taking a placebo, according to SFGate.com.

Whether vitamin consumption has an effect on the likelihood of contracting a serious illness has been the subject of conflicting reports—last year, a study published in the same journal found men who regularly ingested vitamin E had a 17 percent higher risk of developing prostate cancer than those who maintained their regular diet.

The new study’s lead author, J. Michael Gaziano of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said that the reduction in cancer cases was modest but statistically significant.