Vitamin A Cuts Risk of Skin Cancer

Vitamin A supplements could reduce the risk of developing the deadly skin cancer melanoma, according to experts in a new study.

The results show that people takingvitamin A were 60 percent less likely to develop melanoma over the course of the six-year study. People who had taken the vitamin, but weren't currently taking it, did not gain any protective effect.

The reduced risk was more pronounced in women than men.

Vitamin A is found in foods such as sweet potato, carrots, spinach, milk, eggs and liver. The vitamin plays an important role in vision, bone health, immune function and reproduction, but high doses of it can be toxic.

The study appears in the March issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Most people don't realize that melanoma is the sixth leading cause of cancer in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society. About 76,000 cases of melanomas will be diagnosed this year, based on recent estimates.

In the study, researchers examined about 69,000 men and women, and after about six years, 566 had developed melanoma.

Among the 59,000 people in the study who had never taken vitamin A supplements, there were 506 cases of melanoma, while among the 5,800 people who were currently taking it and had used it regularly over the past 10 years, there were 28 cases.

The recommended daily amount of vitamin A is 700 micrograms for adult women and 900 micrograms for adult men, according to the National Institutes of Health. Taking more than 2,800 micrograms of vitamin A could lead to toxic symptoms in adults.