High consumption of vitamin E either from diet or vitamin supplements may lower the risk of liver cancer, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin which is considered an antioxidant and numerous experimental studies have suggested that vitamin E may prevent DNA damage. Liver cancer is the third most common cause of cancer mortality in the world, the fifth most common cancer found in men and the seventh most common in women. Approximately 85 percent of liver cancers occur in developing countries, with 54 percent in China alone.

To determine the relationship between vitamin E intake and liver cancer risk, researchers from Shanghai Jiaotong University analyzed data from a total of 132,837 individuals in China who were enrolled in the Shanghai Women's Health Study (SWHS) from 1997-2000 or the Shanghai Men's Health Study (SMHS) from 2002-2006.

Using validated food-frequency questionnaires, the researchers conducted in-person interviews to gather data on participants' dietary habits. Participants were asked how often they ate some of the most commonly consumed foods in urban Shanghai and whether they took vitamin supplements. The researchers then compared liver cancer risk among participants who had high intake of vitamin E with those who had low intake.

The analysis included 267 liver cancer patients (118 women and 149 men) who were diagnosed within two years following study enrollment and an average of 10.9 (SWHS) or 5.5 (SMHS) years of follow-up. Vitamin E intake from diet and vitamin E supplement use were both associated with a lower risk of liver cancer. This association was consistent among participants with and without self-reported liver disease or a family history of liver cancer.

"We found a clear, inverse dose-response relation between vitamin E intake and liver cancer risk," the authors wrote, noting a small difference between men and women in the risk estimate, which is likely attributable to fewer liver cancer cases having occurred among male participants due to the shorter follow-up period.