Vitamins Don't Curb Bladder Cancer Risk
 (NY, Reuters Health, 10/10/03)

Dr. Abraham M. Y. Nomura, from Kuakini Medical Center in Honolulu, and team, used frozen blood samples taken from 9,345 men at the outset of their study more than 20 years ago. The researchers compared the blood test results of the 111 subjects who contracted bladder cancer during the 20-year period with 111 participants who did not and found that the cancer risk increased as blood levels of alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lutein plus zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, and total carotenoids fell. When the scientists accounted for the smoking habits of the men, however, they concluded that there was a direct correlation between smoking and cancer incidence and, therefore, discounted the protective effect of the nutrients. This study did not address the possibility that there may be a more complex interplay between vitamins and smoking, such that smoking alters nutrient requirements or utilization.