SynthesisJournal of general internal medicine2006
Antioxidants vitamin C and vitamin e for the prevention and treatment of cancer.
Synthesis in Journal of general internal medicine, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 133 citations in OpenAlex.
- Modifiable risk factors for the prevention of bladder cancer: a systematic review of meta-analyses.European journal of epidemiology · 2016Pooled it
- Vitamin C boosts DNA demethylation in TET2 germline mutation carriers.Clinical epigenetics · 2023Trial
- Vitamins C and E and beta carotene supplementation and cancer risk: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2009Trial
- Dose-dependent effects of wheat germ oil and vitamin E on apoptosis and gene expression in breast and cervical cancer cell lines with single-cell RNA-seq profiling.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Role of Micronutrients in Atherosclerosis: Mechanisms and Clinical Application.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2025Review
- Towards chlorocytes for therapeutic intravascular photosynthesis.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2024Review
- Associations between clinically diagnosed medical conditions and dietary supplement use: the US military dietary supplement use study.Public health nutrition · 2023Article
- Dietary and Antioxidant Vitamins Limit the DNA Damage Mediated by Oxidative Stress in the Mother-Newborn Binomial.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Dietary diversity score (DDS) and odds of colorectal cancer and adenoma: a case-control study.Journal of nutritional science · 2022Article
- Immune cell - produced ROS and their impact on tumor growth and metastasis.Redox biology · 2021Review
- The Protective Roles of Vitamin E and α-Lipoic Acid Against Nephrotoxicity, Lipid Peroxidation, and Inflammatory Damage Induced by Gold Nanoparticles.International journal of nanomedicine · 2020Article
- Vitamin C induces human melanoma A375 cell apoptosis via Bax- and Bcl-2-mediated mitochondrial pathways.Oncology letters · 2019Article
- High-throughput determination of vitamin E in extra virgin olive oil by paper spray tandem mass spectrometry.Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · 2019Article
- Redox Paradox: A Novel Approach to Therapeutics-Resistant Cancer.Antioxidants & redox signaling · 2018Review
- Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants in the Diagnosis and Therapy of Periodontitis.Frontiers in physiology · 2017Review
- Vitamins, Are They Safe?Advanced pharmaceutical bulletin · 2016Review
- Article
- Efficacy of Vitamin C Supplements in Prevention of Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Korean journal of family medicine · 2015Article
- Enhancing the health-promoting effects of tomato fruit for biofortified food.Mediators of inflammation · 2014Review
- Vitamin or mineral supplement intake and the risk of head and neck cancer: pooled analysis in the INHANCE consortium.International journal of cancer · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the evidence of the supplements vitamin C and vitamin E for treatment and prevention of cancer.
methodsSystematic review of trials and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES AND MAIN
resultsThirty-eight studies showed scant evidence that vitamin C or vitamin E beneficially affects survival. In the ATBC Cancer Prevention Study Group, no statistically significant effect of treatment was seen for any cancer individually, and our pooled relative risk (regardless of tumor type) for alpha-tocopherol alone was 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.74, 1.12). All cause mortality was not significant. In the Linxian General Population Trial, the relative risks for cancer death for vitamin C (combined with molybdenum) was 1.06 (95% CI: 0.92, 1.21) and for vitamin E (combined with beta-carotene and selenium) was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.76, 1.00). We identified only 3 studies that reported statistically significant beneficial results: vitamin C (in combination with BCG) was found to be beneficial in a single trial of bladder cancer and vitamin E (in combination with omega-3 fatty acid) increased survival in patients with advanced cancer. In the ATBC trial, in analyses of 6 individual cancers, the prevention of prostate cancer in subjects treated with alpha-tocopherol was statistically significant (RR=0.64, 95% CI: 0.44, 0.94).
conclusionsThe systematic review of the literature does not support the hypothesis that the use of supplements of vitamin C or vitamin E in the doses tested helps prevent and/or treat cancer in the populations tested. There were isolated findings of benefit, which require confirmation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.