However, little more can be added to the list of risk factors. Recent investigations have suggested that many of the risk factors for breast cancer may also be risk factors for prostate cancer, including alcohol consumption and smoking. Thus, considerable excitement surrounded the revelation by Dr. Olli Heinonen and colleagues at the University of Helsinki in Finland that vitamin E supplements in the diet reduced the incidence of prostate cancer and prostate cancer death among male smokers by one third. Vitamin E is a well recognized antioxidant and its protective role in prostate cancer suggests that oxidants may be important in the development of this common cancer. Vitamin E is an unusual member of the antioxidant family because it tends to be protective in very specific situations.
Vitamin E is one of the so called fat soluble vitamins.
As such, it is predominantly found in the membranes of cells, including the cells of our blood vessels. In this site, it defends cells from oxidants delivered in the blood stream. However, recent studies suggest that vitamin E may exert far more complex protection that this alone. Regardless of these significant details, the message for future antioxidant research is that oxidants may play a significant casual role in prostate cancer and that antioxidants may be important protective agents.