According to the study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers, certain people – especially smokers – who took dietary supplements containing these nutrients were at higher risk of developing lung cancer than the general population.

The study, which also examined use of retinol, vitamin A, lycopene and lutein, appears in the February issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

To reach the conclusion, the research team used questionnaires to assess use of dietary supplements, including multi-vitamins and individual nutrients, by more than 77,000 Americans over 10 years, and matched the results against data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registry to track the rates of lung cancer among them.

“In the 1980s, studies began showing the link between diet and cancers, and showing that eating fruits and vegetables could lower your risk of certain cancers, including lung cancer,” said Jessie Satia, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and member of UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

“Scientists wondered, then, if you took the beneficial nutrients from fruits and vegetables and gave high doses of them to persons at high risk for lung cancer, such as smokers, if you could decrease the risk of lung cancer,” the expert added.

However, subsequent clinical trials proved that high doses of beta carotene actually seemed to increase the risk of developing lung cancer, Satia said, and trials in the United States and Sweden were stopped when the increased risk was detected.

Satia and colleagues from UNC and the University of Washington in Seattle gave questionnaires to men and women, aged 50 to 76, in western Washington state.

Participants were asked about their use of multivitamins and individual nutrient supplements over the past 10 years (including frequency and dose), as well as about their health history and risk factors. Participants were followed for the next four years, at which time lung cancer rates were obtained.