Multivitamins and Your Prostate

As the old saying goes, "too much of a good thing can be bad." That's exactly what taking too much multivitamins can do to your prostate. According to US researchers, taking in multivitamins more than seven times a week may increase the risk of advanced and fatal prostate cancer.

It is unclear why the multivitamins may increase the risk of certain types of prostate cancer.

Study leader Dr Karla Lawson from the US National Cancer Institute said: "The possibility that men taking high levels of multivitamins along with other supplements have increased risk of advanced and fatal prostate cancers is of concern and merits further evaluation."

Because multivitamins contain so many different components and men taking a lot of them were more likely to be taking other supplements, the researchers were unable to tease out what was causing the association.

In an accompanying editorial, European researchers said a high intake of fruit and vegetables has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer.

But it is not clear which nutrients have a positive effect.