USPSTF says no evidence that Vitamins prevent CVD or Cancer (data disagrees) Aug 2022


Vitamins and CVD, cancer prevention: USPSTF says evidence isn’t there

J Fam Pract. 2022 July;71(6) | doi: 10.12788/jfp.0459
Doug Campos-Outcalt, MD, MPA

Taking vitamins and minerals in the hope of preventing cancer or cardiovascular disease may be ineffective—and with a particular supplement, it could actually be harmful.

The leading causes of death in the United States are cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. CVD causes about 800,00 deaths per year (30% of all deaths), and cancer is responsible for about 600,000 deaths annually (21%).1 Many adults—more than 50%—report regular use of dietary supplements, including multivitamins and minerals, to improve their overall health, believing that these supplements’ anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties help prevent CVD and cancer.2 However, this belief is not supported by evidence, according to the US Preventive Services Task Force.

What did the Task Force find? After a recent reassessment of the topic of vitamin and mineral supplementation, the Task Force reaffirmed its position from 2014: There is insufficient evidence to recommend the use of vitamins and minerals to prevent CVD and cancer.3

For most of the vitamins and minerals included in the systematic review—vitamins A, C, D, E, and K; B vitamins; calcium; iron; zinc; and selenium—the Task Force could not find sufficient evidence to make a recommendation. It is important to note that if any of these are taken at the recommended levels, there is no evidence of serious harm from using them.

However, there is good evidence to recommend against the use of beta carotene and vitamin E.3 For beta carotene, the harms outweigh the benefits: Its use is associated with an increase in the risk of CVD death, as well as an increased incidence of lung cancer in smokers and those with occupational exposure to asbestos. The evidence on vitamin E indicates that it simply does not provide any cancer or CVD mortality benefit.

How to advise patients. Both the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the American Heart Association state that most nutritional needs can be met through the consumption of nutritional foods and beverages; supplements do not add any benefit for those who consume a healthy diet.4 The updated USPSTF recommendations support this approach for community-dwelling, nonpregnant adults.

For those adults who want to supplement their diets—or who need to do so because of an inability to achieve an adequate diet—urge them to follow the recommendations found in DHHS’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.4
References

  • 1. Murphy SL, Xu J, Kochanek KD, et al. Deaths: final data for 2018. Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2021;69:1-83.
  • 2. Cowan AE, Jun S, Gahche JJ, et al. Dietary supplement use differs by socioeconomic and health-related characteristics among US adults, NHANES 2011-2014. Nutrients. 2018;10:1114. doi: 10.3390/nu10081114
  • 3. USPSTF. Vitamin, mineral, and multivitamin supplementation to prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer: US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. JAMA. 2022;327:2326-2333. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.8970
  • 4. US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. Published December 2020. Accessed July 13, 2022. www.dietaryguidelines.gov/current-dietary-guidelines

JAMA article in June 2022

Image
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki


VitaminDWiki - 39 Meta-analyses of Cardiovascular

This list is automatically updated


VitaminDWiki Meta-analyses with CANCER in title (74 as of Sept 2022)

This list is automatically updated

Items found: 82
Title Modified
1.5X more likely to die of Prostate Cancer if low vitamin D when initially diagnosed – meta-analysis March 2024 13 Mar, 2024
Pancreatic Cancer survival 2.3 X more likely if good level of Vitamin D – meta-analysis Sept 2023 15 Sep, 2023
Thyroid Cancer 1.4 X higher risk if low vitamin D– meta-analysis Feb 2018 29 Aug, 2023
Death of women from cancer 24% less likely if 20 ng more vitamin D – meta-analysis Sept 2013 31 Jul, 2023
16 factors increase the risk of early-onset colorectal cancer, only vitamin D decreases the risk – meta-analysis May 2023 22 May, 2023
Breast Cancer not prevented by vitamin D when use small doses or for just a short time – Meta-analysis April 2023 11 May, 2023
Prostate Cancer death 40 percent less likely if 40 ng level of vitamin D – Meta-analysis Oct 2018 30 Apr, 2023
Breast Cancer risk - meta-analysis of 50 studies - Dec 2019 25 Mar, 2023
Ovarian Cancer 37 percent less likely if high vitamin D – meta-analysis March 2023 20 Mar, 2023
Colorectal Cancer 10 percent more likely if poor Vitamin D Receptor – meta-analysis Jan 2023 08 Jan, 2023
Colorectal cancer 14 percent less likely if 10 ng more Vitamin D – 22nd meta-analysis – Sept 2022 13 Sep, 2022
USPSTF says no evidence that Vitamins prevent CVD or Cancer (data disagrees) Aug 2022 05 Sep, 2022
Even after a Cancer diagnosis Vitamin D improves survival – meta-analysis Aug 2022 19 Aug, 2022
Colorectal cancer 40 percent less likely if 1000 IU more Vitamin D – 21st meta-analysis – Oct 2021 29 Oct, 2021
Colorectal cancer 25 percent less likely if good level of Vitamin D – 20th meta-analysis – June 2021 02 Jul, 2021
Lung Cancer death 40 percent less likely if high level of Vitamin D – meta-analysis Nov 2020 24 Nov, 2020
Deaths from many types of Cancer associated with low vitamin D- review of meta-analyses Sept 2020 09 Nov, 2020
Vitamin D fights 13 cancers – review of 35 meta-analyses – Oct 2020 06 Oct, 2020
Breast Cancer again associated with low vitamin D – 15th meta-analysis Sept 2020 02 Oct, 2020
Colorectal cancer treated by Vitamin D – 19th meta-analysis – Sept 2020 17 Sep, 2020
3X less risk of Liver cancer if more than 30 ng of vitamin D – meta-analysis July 2020 28 Jul, 2020
Liver Cancer 8 percent less likely for every 4 ng higher level of vitamin D – Meta-analysis April 2020 02 Apr, 2020
Breast Cancer risk reduced 17 percent by 1 hour of daily summer sun – meta-analysis Jan 2020 07 Jan, 2020
Liver Cancer – higher risk if poor genes (Vitamin D receptor etc) – meta-analysis Dec 2019 14 Dec, 2019
Colon cancer both prevented and treated by Vitamin D – meta-analysis Dec 2019 04 Dec, 2019
Risk of Cancer increased if poor Vitamin D Receptor – meta-analysis of 73 studies Jan 2016 09 Nov, 2019
Cancer with low Vitamin D increases Mortality by 13 percent – meta-analysis Feb 2019 05 Jul, 2019
People supplemented with Vitamin D had 13 percent fewer Cancer deaths – Meta-analysis of RCT June 2019 05 Jul, 2019
Breast Cancer rate reduced by 40 percent with Omega-3 – meta-analysis June 2013 16 Jun, 2019
Lung Cancer more likely if poor Vitamin D Receptor – meta-analysis June 2019 13 Jun, 2019
Variety of Vitamin D forms treat Prostate Cancer – RCT Review April 2019 01 May, 2019
Pancreatic cancer risk of death reduced 19 percent by Vitamin D – meta-analysis June 2017 20 Mar, 2019
Breast Cancer reduced 20 percent by fish (Omega-3) – meta-analysis Feb 2019 05 Mar, 2019
16 percent less Prostate Cancer sometimes for each 10 ng vitamin D increase - meta-analysis Jan 2011 13 Oct, 2018
Lung Cancer risk decreased 2.4 percent with every 100 IU Vitamin D extra intake – meta-analysis Sept 2018 15 Sep, 2018
Colorectal cancer is associated with Vitamin D (17 meta-analyses so far) – July 2018 18 Jul, 2018
Thyroid Cancer 1.3X higher risk if low vitamin D (yet again) – meta-analysis June 2018 02 Jun, 2018
Cancer not treated by Vitamin D when ignore dose size, type, and length of trial – meta-analysis April 2018 09 Apr, 2018
Pancreatic cancer risk reduced 25 percent by just 10 micrograms of Vitamin D or Vitamin B12 – meta-analysis March 2018 30 Mar, 2018
Prostate cancer risk increase with Vitamin D (other studies disagree) – meta-analysis Jan 2018 11 Jan, 2018
Lung Cancer death 60 percent less likely if high level of vitamin D – 2 meta-analysis 2017 29 Dec, 2017
Ovarian Cancer in Asia is 1.5 X more likely if poor Vitamin D receptor – meta-analysis Dec 2017 14 Dec, 2017
Lung Cancer patients were 2.4 times more likely to have a poor Vitamin D Receptor gene – July 2017 27 Jul, 2017
Lung Cancer less likely if vitamin D (higher level or supplement) – meta-analysis May 2015 06 Jul, 2017
Breast Cancer Mortality reduced 60 percent if more than 60 ng of Vitamin D – meta-analysis June 2017 13 Jun, 2017
Lung Cancer risk decreases 5 percent for every 2.5 nanogram increase in Vitamin D – meta-analysis Sept 2015 22 Feb, 2017
Colorectal cancer 60 percent less likely: high vs low Vitamin D level – meta-analysis Dec 2016 22 Dec, 2016
Colorectal Cancer recurrence not prevented by 1,000 IU of vitamin D – meta-analysis Dec 2016 09 Dec, 2016
Bladder cancer modifiable risk factors include low vitamin D – meta-analysis March 2016 08 Dec, 2016
Bladder cancer 60 percent less likely if have high vitamin D – meta-analysis Dec 2015 08 Dec, 2016
Vitamin D receptor polymorphisms are risk factors for various cancers – meta-analysis Jan 2014 12 Nov, 2016
10 percent of colon cancer linked to Vitamin D Receptor – meta-analysis April 2012 23 Sep, 2016
Kidney cancer 22 percent less likely if high vitamin D – meta-analysis Nov 2015 30 Mar, 2016
Bladder cancer 25 percent less likely if have high vitamin D – meta-analysis April 2015 24 Dec, 2015
Bladder cancer 25 percent less likely if have high vitamin D – meta-analysis Oct 2014 24 Dec, 2015
Non-cancer colon growths 7 percent less likely with each 10 ng increase in vitamin D – Oct 2011 31 Oct, 2015
Cancer risk weakly associated with vitamin D-binding protein – meta-analysis Sept 2015 15 Oct, 2015
Meta-graphs of vitamin D and Cancer – Dec 2011 20 Sep, 2015
Colon cancer 30 percent more likely if low vitamin D – 12th meta-analysis Aug 2015 14 Aug, 2015
Obesity causes 20 percent of all cancer, low vitamin D may be the connection – meta-analysis - Sept 2014 31 May, 2015
Increased risk of some female cancers if low vitamin D (due to genes) – meta-analysis June 2015 03 May, 2015
Colon cancer risk reduced by many vitamins – 13 percent reduction by Vitamin D – meta-analysis Jan 2015 11 Dec, 2014
Breast Cancer – review of 2 RCT did not find association with 1000 IU of Vitamin D – July 2013 16 Nov, 2014
Cancer (colon, breast, lymph) survival about 2X better with high level vitamin D – meta-analysis July 2014 30 Sep, 2014
Colorectal and Breast Cancer – Vitamin D is associated with fewer deaths – meta-analysis Feb 2014 30 Sep, 2014
Cancer survival 4 percent more likely with just a little more vitamin D (4 ng) - meta-analysis July 2014 12 May, 2014
More survive Breast Cancer if more vitamin D – 2X fewer deaths with just 30 ng -meta-analysis March 2014 08 May, 2014
Death due to breast cancer reduced 40 percent if high vitamin D – meta-analysis April 2014 08 Apr, 2014
Breast Cancer survival 2X more likely if vitamin D sufficient – meta-analysis May 2013 06 Mar, 2014
Breast Cancer post menopause down 12 percent for every 5 ng of vitamin D – meta-analysis May 2013 28 Oct, 2013
Probably need more than 1000 IU of vitamin D to prevent cancer – meta-analysis Aug 2013 20 Aug, 2013
3.2 percent less Breast Cancer for 2.4 ng more vitamin D – meta-analysis June 2013 08 Jul, 2013
Colorectal cancer 26 percent less likely for every 10 ng of vitamin D – meta-analysis Aug 2011 10 Nov, 2012
Breast cancer association with low vitamin D suggested by Meta-analysis -April 2010 19 Jul, 2012
Colon cancer probability increases with decreased vitamin D – Meta-analysis July 2011 23 Jun, 2012
Vitamin D has a complex relationship with Cancer – meta-analysis July 2011 30 Sep, 2011
Meta-analysis of 3 cancers - 10 ng more vitamin D decrease colorectal by 15 percent– May 2010 31 Aug, 2011
Risk of Prostate Cancer weakly associated with vitamin D - meta-analysis March 2011 11 Aug, 2011
Meta-analysis found vitamin D association with colon but not prostate nor breast cancer May 2010 17 Jan, 2011
Meta-analysis not find low vitamin D years before breast cancer – Aug 2010 10 Sep, 2010
Meta-analysis confirmed that vitamin D and calcium prevents breast cancer – June 2010 30 Aug, 2010
Meta-analysis did not find strong association between vitamin D and breast cancer risk -April 2010 12 May, 2010

Continuing Medical Education class: Nutrition in Cancer Prevention, Treatment and Survivorship - Aug 2022

Tailor macronutrients, micronutrients, and phytonutrients for optimal immune response $100

682 visitors, last modified 06 Sep, 2022,
Printer Friendly Follow this page for updates