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Article: Beta-carotene supplements: where there's smoke, there's fire.(Literature Review & Commentary)
- Article from:
- Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients
- Article date:
- October 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Townsend Letter Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Seven hundred-seven patients who had had a colorectal adenoma removed were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 1) beta-carotene (25 mg/day), 2) vitamin C (1,000 mg/day) and vitamin E (400 mg/day), 3) beta-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E, or 4) placebo. Colonoscopy was repeated after one year and four years. Among patients who neither smoked cigarettes nor drank alcohol, beta-carotene supplementation was associated with a 44% decrease in the risk of one or more recurrent adenomas (RR = 0.56; 95% CI, 0.35-0.89). Beta-carotene supplementation was, however, associated with an increased risk among those who smoked (RR = 1.36; 95% CI, 0.70-2.62) or drank ...