Long popular as an antioxidant, good old Vitamin E may soon be available in a designer version that kills cancer.
Vitamin E is known to have some ability to fight cancer cells. It is also very safe; as far as we know, there is no such thing as a dangerous or toxic level of vitamin E. Widely available in pill form, vitamin E is also abundantly available in foods such as plant oils, green vegetables, whole grains, and nuts.
Recently, researchers at Ohio State University announced that they have discovered how to alter vitamin E to turn it into a much more powerful cancer killer.
Vitamin E kills cancer cells by causing them to undergo a process known as programmed cell death. The researchers learned more about how it does this and then altered the structure of vitamin E in order to make the process work even better.
"Our findings could lead to a potent chemopreventive agent that has both strong anticancer and antioxidant properties," says chief researcher Ching-Shih Chen. "Such an agent might help reduce the risk of prostate, colon and other cancers."
