Winter Maladies: Natural Approaches
June Russell's Health Facts
Health Benefits of Alcohol Questioned — Specific Topics
Vitamin A, Alcohol Use, and Smoking
The Finnish Study on Vitamin A: No Protection For Smokers
There was a popular Finnish study a few years ago about smokers and beta-carotene (vitamin A). It reported that the beta-carotine supplement offered no protection and actually increased the risk of lung cancer. The media neglected to report that synthetic beta-carotene was used, and the risk was only among those who smoked more than a pack of cigarettes a day and/or drank one drink each day (or more) of alcohol. There was no increased risk for lighter smokers or former smokers. The Finns have one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption by smokers, and alcohol consumption interferes with the utilization of vitamins, both vitamin E and beta-carotene.
Beta-carotene needs vitamins E and C to produce its antioxidant effect, and the smoker's vitamin C is used up inactivating the free radials from the cigarette smoke, so there is little left. The combination of smoking and alcohol use not only results in toxic damage to the liver, but 15 times the rate of cancer. Additionally, it has been suggested that a carcinogenic dye had been used in the coating of the beta-carotene used in the study.
This Finnish study was described by many in the medical field to be badly flawed and criticisms abound. Here are a few: the study used 1/8th to 1/40th the dosage of vitamin E that had been shown by more than 20 previous studies to lower the risk of lung cancer in smokers; it used 1/10th the dosage of beta-carotene recommended for the treatment of lung cancer in long-term smokers; it used as subjects people living in Finland, despite the fact that both the British Medical Journal and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition consider it one of the least desirable countries in the world for cancer/nutrition studies.
The Finns have one of the highest rates of per capita alcohol consumption by smokers, and alcohol interferes with the utilization of vitamin E and beta-carotene, as well as Finland's soil having extremely low levels of selenium (which acts preventively against cancer in combination with vitamin E). The Finnish study appeared in a publication that is heavily dependent on pharmaceutical advertising support and shows a bias against vitamin supplementation. The more potent vitamin C was curiously absent from the study, and the dietary intake of the water-soluble nutrients, vitamin C, folic acid, and B vitamins, is extremely low in Finland. The molecular mechanism by which beta-carotene and vitamin E protect against lung cancer in smokers depends on adequate levels of water-soluble nutrients. Men who had adequate levels of beta-carotene or vitamin E were intentionally excluded from this Finnish study, which meant that only men with very high risk factors for developing lung cancer (poor diets and heavy smoking) were allowed to participate. This distorted the real value of proper nutrition for cancer prevention. This highly questionable study was funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), using tax dollars provided by the American public.
{Sources: PubMed, Spectrum magazine, American Journal of Epidemiology, nih.gov, garynull.com, usaweekend.com, healthcentral.com, "Prescription for Disaster," book by Thomas Moore, Alternative Medicine Digest, Well Mind Association of Greater Washington newsletter, Nutrition & Healing newsletter by Alan R. Gaby, UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, Let's Live magazine, (also see "Alcohol - Vitamins and Nutrients" on www.jrussellshealth.org)}
Other Studies
Current smokers tend to drink more alcohol than former smokers or nonsmokers. In smokers who also consume alcohol, beta-carotene supplementation promotes pulmonary cancer and, possibly cardiovascular problems. Everyone knows that smoking causes lung disease, yet here are missing links in this equation because so many smokers never develop lung cancer. A study shows that alcohol boosts smoking's harm, and smokers who drink regularly are twice as likely to have a certain type of genetic mutation associated with lung cancer as smokers who do not drink alcohol. The researchers suspect that alcohol interferes with the body's ability to convert carcinogenic chemicals in smoke into more benign substances than it can eliminate. Alcohol may also disrupt the body's ability to repair DNA that has been damaged by carcinogens.
{"Dangerous Duo," Reader's Digest, Dec. 2000}
A study by Israeli researchers has proven that a natural beta-carotene supplement acts as a powerful antioxidant in humans, but synthetic beta-carotene does not. With these facts the study takes on a different value.
Additional pertinent information on Vitamin A and alcohol:
- According to Finnish researchers, beta-carotene can lower the risk of prostate cancer, as can vitamin E, by one-third, but only among men who don't drink alcohol regularly.
{Journal of the National Cancer Institute - 1998} - Melvyn R. Werbach, MD, author of "Nutritional Influences on Mental Illness," says that 5 times the daily requirement of vitamin A has no detectable adverse effects when given alone, but when combined with alcohol there is a leakage of a cellular enzyme into the blood stream. This means that vitamin A supplementation might hasten rather than alleviate the development of liver disease.
{The New England Journal of Medicine - 1998} - Note that the Physician's Health Study of over 22,000 physicians showed no benefit or harm from beta-carotene supplementation of 50 mg of synthetic beta-carotene every other day. This was consistent for the 11 percent who smoked and the 51 percent who were former smokers. However, physicians pay more attention to their health and have exceptional access to health care, according to Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, a leading antioxidant researcher and associate director of the USDA Center for Human Nutrition and Aging at Tufts University. "People who take good care of themselves are less likely to have dramatic health benefits." More than 200 scientific studies have shown that antioxidants, including beta carotene, play a major role in preventing cancer and heart disease.