Vitamin E pills increase 

risk of prostate 

cancer - despite once 

being thought to GUARD against disease

The chance is said to increase by 17% overall - even though the vitamin is widely used to boost the immune system and selenium is taken to ward off heart disease

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Danger: Supplements raise cancer risk

Men have been warned to stop taking vitamin E and selenium supplements after research showed they can dramatically raise the risk of prostate cancer.

Vitamin E – once thought to guard against the disease – was said to actually increase the danger by 17% overall.

And the chance of getting aggressive cancer could rise 111% in some cases. Vitamin E is widely used to boost the immune system and selenium is taken to ward off heart disease.

But US scientists found overdosing on selenium raised the chances of aggressive prostate cancer by 91%. For men lacking in selenium, vitamin E pills increased the overall risk by 63% while the aggressive risk rose by 111%.

The US study was a follow-up of a trial to see if the supplements could prevent prostate cancer.

It was scrapped in 2008 amid fears vitamin E put men at risk. Study leader Dr Alan Kristal, of Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Centre, said: “Men using these supplements should stop, period.

"Neither confers any known benefits, only risks.”

Prostate Cancer UK said: “We need more data before we can say if the small effects on the chance of getting cancer outweigh any general health benefits.”

Dieticians say vitamin E, important for the immune system, is best obtained naturally by eating wheatgerm, sunflower seeds and broccoli