Study: Taking multivitamins reduces kids' risk for cancer

TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL
Women who take a daily multivitamin before and during pregnancy sharply reduce the likelihood that their children will develop leukemia, brain tumors and other forms of childhood cancer, according to new Canadian research.
The startling finding that a cheap supplement purchased at the drugstore can prevent cancer as well as a range of birth defects adds weight to the theory that micronutrients have lifelong health benefits for the developing fetus. It also bolsters the case for having all women of childbearing age take multivitamins, particularly those rich in folic acid.
"This is almost too simple an idea for people to take seriously, but they should take it seriously," said Dr. Gideon Koren, director of the Motherisk program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
"Proper nutrition -- and that includes a daily prenatal multivitamin -- can prevent a large proportion of childhood cancer."
The new research, published in Thursday's edition of the medical journal Clinical Pharmacology & amp; Therapeutics, found that children born of mothers who took a daily multivitamin containing folic acid had a 47 percent lower risk for neuroblastoma (the most deadly form of childhood cancer), a 39 percent lower risk for leukemia (the most common form of pediatric cancer) and a 27 percent lower risk for brain tumors.
The study is a meta-analysis, a compilation and analysis of previously published studies. Koren said research has shown, in bits and pieces, the possible benefits of prenatal multivitamins, but this paper is the first to pull together the data related to childhood cancers.
"This is the real deal," said Dr. Ronald Barr, head of the division of hematology-oncology at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. Barr was not involved in the research.
He said the effects of multivitamins are dramatic, but the findings should prompt parents and parents-to-be to ponder a larger message beyond taking a daily pill.