Garlic and grape seed supplement use is inversely associated with hematological malignancies. - GreenMedInfo Summary

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence suggests that nutrients from fruits and vegetables have chemoprotective properties on various cancers including hematologic malignancies, but the effects of nutritional supplements are poorly examined. METHODS: Herein, we prospectively evaluated the association of vitamin, mineral, and specialty supplements with incident hematologic malignancies in 66,227 men and women aged 50 to 76 years from Washington State recruited from 2000-2002 to the VITamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) cohort study. Hematologic malignancies cases (n=588) were identified through December 2008 by linkage to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) associated with supplement use were estimated with Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: After adjustment, high use of garlic supplements (≥4 days/week for ≥3 years; HR=0.55 [95% confidence interval: 0.34-0.87]; p=0.028 for trend) and ever use of grape seed supplements (HR=0.57 [0.37-0.88]) were inversely associated with hematologic malignancies in our models. In addition, high use (8-10 pill-years) of multivitamins was suggestiveof an inverse association (HR)=0.80 [0.64-1.01]). In contrast, no associations were observed for the remaining supplements. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that use of garlic and grape seed may be associated with reduced risk of hematologic malignancies.Impact: This is the first cohort study to suggest a possible role of these supplements in the chemoprevention of hematologic malignancies.