PARIS, Aug. 22 -- Women who use antioxidant supplements may be increasing their risk of developing skin cancer, according to results of a randomized trial of more than 13,000 men and women.
Anti-oxidant use in women produced a statistically significant increase in the risk of skin cancer (HR 1.68, P=0.03), and more than a four-fold increase in the risk of melanoma (HR 4.31, P=0.02), according to a report in the August issue of the Journal of Nutrition.
But the absolute number of cases was very small -- just 157 over more than seven years -- and antioxidant use was not associated with increased risk of skin cancer in men, said Serge Hercberg, M.D., Ph.D., of the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) and Unite de Surveillance et d'Epidemiologie Nutritionnelle, Paris, and colleagues.
The authors had previously reported that supplementation with antioxidants (beta carotene, ascorbic acid(Drug information on ascorbic acid), vitamin E(Drug information on vitamin e), selenium(Drug information on selenium), and zinc) did not reduce cancer incidence, cardiovascular disease, or all cause mortality compared with placebo. (Arch Intern Med. 2004; 164: 2335-2342)
