VITAMIN-E AND COLON-CANCER - IS THERE AN ASSOCIATION

The role of vitamin E in the etiology and prevention of colon cancer i s not clear. It is possible that various forms of vitamin E may act di fferently in colon tissue and may be effective chemopreventive agents. Previous reports of vitamin E and colon cancer have focused on alpha- tocopherol and have not considered other dietary forms of vitamin E. D ata from a study of 1,993 cases and 2,410 controls were used to evalua te the associations between the four most common forms of dietary vita min E and supplemental vitamin E and colon cancer. After adjusting for other health and life-style factors, we did not observe a statistical ly significant association between dietary tocopherols and colon cance r. There were, however, suggestions of an inverse association between total alpha-tocopherol equivalents and colon cancer among women diagno sed with colon cancer before the median age of the control population, 67 years [odds ratio (OR) = 0.66 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.36- 1.22] and a direct association between gamma-tocopherol and colon canc er among these women (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 0.92-1.93). Women diagnosed with colon cancer when greater than or equal to 67 years of age appear ed to have some protection from use of vitamin E supplements (OR = 0.8 0, 95% CI = 0.56-1.15). These data offer only limited support for a pr otective effect of vitamin E and colon cancer after adjustment for oth er health and life-style factors.