“Don’t forget to take your vitamins?” That healthful reminder
from mom may soon become a thing of the past. While dietary
supplements remain popular in the US, a continuous stream of
studies are casting increasing doubt that the widely-accepted
benefits are real. Researchers and regulators are taking notice,
and some are beginning to deliver a different message. Two
studies published earlier this month are the most recent
examples. One takes aim at vitamin E, the other at multivitamin
supplements for women. The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer
Prevention Trial (SELECT) put to test the common “wisdom” that
vitamin E lowers men’s risk for prostate cancer. A total of
35,533 men in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, received one of
four treatments: vitamin E, selenium (an essential mineral
thought to lower the risk of cancer when taken with vitamin E),
both together, or a placebo. They found that taking vitamin E
actually increased the risk for prostate cancer. Taken together
with selenium, however, seemed to mitigate