The Study
Prostate cancer: Vitamin E and prostate cancer—what is the real risk?
This study noticed that more men who took vitamin E got prostate cancer than those who didn’t, but we don’t know if the groups were chosen fairly or if anything else caused the difference. So we can’t say vitamin E caused the cancer — just that they happened together.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
A study looked at whether taking vitamin E pills made men more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 532 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1This small difference suggests vitamin E might slightly raise the chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, but it's not a huge increase.
- 27 out of 100 men taking vitamin E got prostate cancer; 6 out of 100 men taking a placebo got it.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Nature Reviews Urology
Year
2011
Authors
Melanie Clyne
Related Content
Claims (2)
Taking high doses of vitamin E supplements raises the number of prostate cancer cases in men without pre-existing cancer.
In middle-aged and older men, taking vitamin E supplements is linked to a 7% rate of prostate cancer detection, while those taking a placebo have a 6% rate.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.