A DGReview of :"Intakes
of carotenoids, vitamin C, and vitamin E and MS risk among two large cohorts
of women"
08/03/2001
Fruit and vegetable intake is not
associated with a reduced risk for multiple sclerosis, say American doctors.
Furthermore, suggestions that vitamin supplements may be related to a reduced
risk for the disease are also unsupported.
Researchers from Brigham and Women's
Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston Massachusetts, examined the
association between carotenoids, vitamins C and E intake and multiple sclerosis.
The research followed a previous case-controlled study suggesting a "significantly
inversely association between MS risk among women and vitamin C intake."
Two large cohorts of women from the
Nurses' Health Studies were included in the research. They completed detailed
and validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires. The occurrence
of positive and probable MS was documented within the groups.
The first Nurses' Health Study was
composed of 81,683 women aged 38 to 63 years in 1984. Researchers followed
them for 12 years. The Nurses' Health Study II comprised 95,056 women whose
ages ranged between 27 to 44 years in 1991 who were then followed for six
years.
A total of 214 cases of MS were documented
by the researchers who made adjustments for age, latitudes of birthplace,
pack-years of smoking, and total intake of energy. After comparing women
in the highest and lowest quintile, the pooled multivariate relative risks
were 1.1 (0.7 to 1.7) for alpha-carotene, 1.1 (0.7 to 1.6) for beta-carotene,
1.4 (0.8 to 2.2) for beta-cryptoxanthin, 1.0 (0.6 to 1.5) for lycopene,
and 1.0 (0.7 to 1.6) for lutein/zeaxanthin.
The vitamin responses were 1.4 (0.9
to 2.1) for total vitamin C, 1.3 (0.9 to 2.0) for dietary vitamin C, 0.8
(0.6 to 1.3) for total vitamin E and 0.9 (0.6 to 1.4) for dietary vitamin
E.
Neurology 2001 Vol 57 pp 75-80. "Intakes
of carotenoids, vitamin C, and vitamin E and MS risk among two large cohorts
of women"
Neurology
By Veronica Rose