Researchers have unlocked revealed information about cancer that could possibly save the lives of thousands of men.
A daily dose of Centrum Silver multivitamins reduced the risk of cancer in older men by eight percent, reports NBC News.
The study was conducted by researchers and scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital. It showed that nearly 15,000 men over 50 who took the pill everyday had a much lower risk of getting cancer compared with those who received placebos.
"This is a modest reduction, but our results suggest that low doses of multiple vitamins and minerals in a supplement might work together to prevent disease beyond addressing vitamin and mineral deficiencies," said study co-author Howard Sesso, an associate epidemiologist in the Brigham's Division of Preventive Medicine, according to Boston.com.
The article said that those who used multivitamins decrease site-specific cancers, except for prostate cancer by 12 percent.
The study also didn't say if taking the vitamins yielded the same results in women or men under 50.
Previous students of the same type found that consuming daily multivitamins didn't have much of an effect on cancer risks.
Researchers said what changed in this experiment was that the study followed its participants for a longer period of time (11 years) and the vitamins provided for much-needed nutrition.
"The reduction in total cancer risk in [the study] argues that the broader combination of low-dose vitamins and minerals contained in the [Centrum Silver] multivitamin, rather than an emphasis on previously tested high-dose vitamins and mineral trials, may be paramount for cancer prevention," said Dr. Michael Gaziano, chief of the division of aging at the hospital, ABC News reports.
ABC News asked if a multivitamin prevented cancer because it contained similar nutrients found in food; why not eat more fruits and vegetables.
Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale Prevention Research Center said only 1.5 percent of people eat the amount of fruits and vegetables they need.