A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has shown that Vitamin E could have protective effects against liver cancer.



 
The study included 132,837 people in China who were part of the Shanghai Women's Health Study or the Shanghai Men's Health Study. The researchers analyzed their diets and vitamin E intake using questionnaires.

A decade later, the researchers followed up with the study participants to find that 267 of them had developed liver cancer. They found that link between the more vitamin E consumed, and the lower risk of liver cancer. And the results held true even among people who had a family history of liver cancer, or who had had liver disease in the past. However, men who took multivitamins or vitamin C supplements were actually shown to have an increased risk of liver cancer.

Previous studies have made some differentiations between the kind of vitamin E and cancer risk; while some types have been shown in research to lower the risk of cancer, others have been shown to raise it. This particular study is the first to look at the effects of all types of vitamin E (derived from supplements and food) on liver cancer risk.