Pure beta carotene may not be bad for smokers after all. The findings that smokers have to shun pure beta carotene may not yet be as conclusive as the need for them to quit smoking. This has been the standpoint of a German professor from the Institute for Biological Chemistry and Nutrition at the University of Hohenheim. Prof. Hans Konrad Biesalski asserts that the population-based study announcing that long-term intake of pure beta carotene and other carotenoids may increase likelihood of cancer in smokers is flawed. He questioned the validity of the methodology, statistical evaluations and speculative explanations of the said study.

The professor said that the study conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill depended on a questionnaire which was critical to its shortcoming. Using the said questionnaire, subjects were asked to recall on the specifics of food supplements that they had taken, which for some was ten years ago. Because of this intervening time, the professor finds it hard to believe that the participants of the study were able to accurately remember the details of their intake, including frequency of intake, sequence, and composition of the products containing micronutrients, four or ten years ago. (more…)

Pure beta carotene may not be bad for smokers after all. The findings that smokers have to shun pure beta carotene may not yet be as conclusive as the need for them to quit smoking. This has been the standpoint of a German professor from the Institute for Biological Chemistry and Nutrition at the University of Hohenheim. Prof. Hans Konrad Biesalski asserts that the population-based study announcing that long-term intake of pure beta carotene and other carotenoids may increase likelihood of cancer in smokers is flawed. He questioned the validity of the methodology, statistical evaluations and speculative explanations of the said study.

The professor said that the study conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill depended on a questionnaire which was critical to its shortcoming. Using the said questionnaire, subjects were asked to recall on the specifics of food supplements that they had taken, which for some was ten years ago. Because of this intervening time, the professor finds it hard to believe that the participants of the study were able to accurately remember the details of their intake, including frequency of intake, sequence, and composition of the products containing micronutrients, four or ten years ago. Hence, he finds some portions of data gathered using the questionnaires on supplement consumption very hard to follow. For this reason, he questions the plausibility of the questionnaires and most importantly the inferences that was made from them.
Another point in the study that he questioned was the statistical analysis done by the proponents. (more…)