The new report is published in the August issue of the Archives of Dermatology .
For the study, a team lead by Dr. Maryam M. Asgari, of Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland, collected data on 69,671 women and men who participated in the Vitamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) study. It was designed to look at the use of supplements and the risk for cancer. At the start of the study, between 2000 and 2002, participants completed a questionnaire that included inquiries about lifestyle, medical history, diet, use of supplements and other cancer risk factors.
The researchers found that multivitamins and supplements taken over 10 years, including selenium and beta carotene, were not associated with the risk for melanoma among both women and men.
"Consistent with the present results, case-control studies examining serologic [blood] levels of beta carotene, vitamin E and selenium did not find any association with subsequent risk of melanoma," the authors wrote. "Moreover, the Nurses' Health Study reported no association between intake of vitamins A, C and E and melanoma risk in 162,000 women during more than 1.6 million person-years of follow-up," they added.
The causes of melanoma have to do with genetic predisposition; sun exposure, especially in early life; and other yet-to-be determined factors, Ashinoff said. "Melanoma can occur internally, as in the vagina and GI [gastrointestinal] tract, as well as in the eye, so sun exposure is certainly not the entire story," she said.
Earlier experiments had found that topical antioxidants such as green tea extracts, vitamin C and E and soy can prevent and reverse some of the sun's damage to the DNA and immune systems in the skin, if applied before sun exposure, Ashinoff said.
"It shows how difficult these studies are to interpret," she said. "I am happy to see that these antioxidants have not been shown in a similar group of people to increase the risk of melanoma."
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