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Vitamin E sold in drugstores does not protect against cancer
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Advertisements for vitamin preparations list in detail all the medicinal properties of a particular vitamin. But the advertisements keep silent about the fact that these substances are found in nature in various forms – and they are not at all identical in their qualities.
Recently, many scientific papers have appeared that have studied the characteristics of vitamin E and the effect of taking this substance on the growth of malignant tumors. Perhaps, apart from vitamins E and D, no other vitamin has produced such contradictory data: some scientists claim that vitamin E (tocopherol) can prevent cancer development and slow the spread of existing tumors, while other scientists confirm that this vitamin is insidious - with constant intake, it actually promotes the growth of cancerous tumors.
American scientists from the New Jersey Cancer Institute have significantly clarified this confusing situation: they have found that of the three types of vitamin E (alpha-, gamma- and delta-tocopherols), only the last two have the ability to prevent the development of such types of malignant tumors as malignant tumors of the intestine, lung cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer. But alpha-tocopherol does not have such qualities.
An interesting fact here is that gamma and delta tocopherol are found mainly in natural food products: soy products, corn oil, all kinds of nuts and others, and alpha tocopherol is part of synthetic vitamin drugs that are sold in pharmacies.
In experiments with laboratory animals, they were exposed to all sorts of carcinogens. As the researchers report, in the experimental group, in which the animals received gamma- and delta-tocopherols with food, the number of animals that developed cancer was lower, and their tumors were smaller in size compared to animals in the control group, which did not receive products rich in these types of tocopherols.
When animals were inoculated with cancer cells, the tumors grew much more slowly in rats that were periodically given gamma- and delta-tocopherols.
Delta-tocopherol was particularly effective against colon cancer.
“For those taking vitamins or considering using them to improve their health, it would be useful to know the results and understand the differences between the forms of tocopherol,” says study co-author Dr. Chung Yang.