A small cogitation hints that a fo...

A small cogitation hints that a form of vitamin A may help obviate lung cancer in former smoker In a cogitation presented at the 38th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology forward May 21, 2002 in Orlando, Florida, researchers reported that a chemical cousin of vitamin A may turn end for end some precancerous changes in the lung of former smokers

While quitting the smoking habit significantly contracts lung cancer risk, former smoker remain at higher than normal risk for years afterward. In fact, despite kicking the habit, ex-smoker still account for half of newly diagnosed lung cancer cases in the United States.

For the meditation 266 long-time smokers who had kicked the habit at least single in kind year previously were randomly assigned to receive pair forms of retinoic acid--commonly known as vitamin A--or a placebo. Retinoic acid activates a certain quantity of genes that are associated with fighting cancer, according to the study

Three month later, fewer pre-cancerous changes were observ in the lung of patients given united form of vitamin A, compared to either of the other sum of two units groups.

"Much necessitys to be done before we can attract favor to this for prevention," says cogitation author Jonathan Kurie, MD, MH PhD ASCO, associate professor of Thoracic, Head and Neck Medical Oncology at the University of Texas' MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, "But the retails are promising, worthy of further study"

Tobacco smoking is blamed for 85 to 90 percent of all US lung cancer cases.

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