Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Women with the highest supplement intake of vitamin A had a 26% reduced risk of melanoma vs. women not taking vitamin A supplements. 

According to the CDC, melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer, causing about 8,000 deaths in the U.S. each year and costing our healthcare system $3.5 billion per year. It is also estimated that a person who died of melanoma between 2000 and 2006 died 20 years prematurely, compared to 17 years from other cancers (1).

Now a new study (2) suggests that vitamin A may help with skin health and melanoma in women. In the study, researchers examined data on 69,635 men and women between the ages of 50 and 76 participating in the Vitamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) study (3). The patients provided information on both diet (via a questionnaire developed from the Women’s Health Initiative (4)) and dietary supplement use. Participants were asked about their supplement use 10 years before the start of the study and also current use, frequency, duration and usual dose per day for individual supplements as well as multivitamins.

After an average of 5.84 years of follow-up, 566 incident melanomas were identified among the group. The researchers noted that vitamin A supplements were associated with a significant reduction in melanoma risk for women but not men. Specifically, women with the highest supplement intake of vitamin A (as retinol) had a 26% reduced risk of melanoma vs. women not taking vitamin A supplements (>1,200 micrograms per day vs. no supplement use).

The researchers did admit to finding no risk reduction for melanoma with beta carotene intake but acknowledge the results agree with previous research finding the same lack of benefit of beta-carotene for melanoma risk (5). For the researchers, “Retinol supplementation may have a preventative role in melanoma among women.”

Source: Asgari, Maryam M., Theodore M. Brasky, and Emily White. “Association of vitamin A and carotenoid intake with melanoma risk in a large prospective cohort.” Journal of Investigative Dermatology 132.6 (2012): 1573-1582.

© 2012 The Society for Investigative Dermatology, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted March 16, 2012. 

References:

  1. “Melanoma Surveillance In The United States” – see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
  2. Association of Vitamin A and Carotenoid Intake with Melanoma Risk in a Large Prospective Cohort.  Jou Invest Derm 2012. advance online publication, 1 March 2012; doi:10.1038/jid.2012.21.
  3. “VITamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) Study: A Cohort Study of Dietary Supplements and Cancer Risk” – see the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center website.
  4. Patterson RE, Kristal AR, Tinker LF et al. Measurement characteristics of the Women’s Health Initiative food frequency questionnaire. Ann Epidemiol 1999; 9:178–87.
  5. Druesne-Pecollo N, Latino-Martel P, Norat T et al. Beta-carotene supplementation and cancer risk: a systematic review and metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials. Int J Cancer 2010; 127:172–84.