A new study showed that the supplement forms of vitamins C and E don’t work as supposed. It had been known for a long time that these two vitamins help in fighting cancer in women, but the study showed that this isn’t happening as expected.

In addition, neither the beta carotene supplement works in fighting the terrible disease. Lead author of the study, Jennifer Lin, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, stated that taking these supplements isn’t enough to prevent cancer development.

Yet, she added that a better idea would be to eat more fruits and vegetables which are rich in nutrients. Previous studies have also shown that vitamin supplements such as B, C, D, E, folic acid and calcium neither prevent nor treat cancer if they are taken in combinations or alone.

But there have been other studies which showed that vitamins might have some protective effects thanks to their antioxidants. Supposedly, these antioxidants reduce the cell damage throughout the body.

This new study tracked 8,171 women who used to take the supplements, a combination of them or a placebo. The supplements were vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene. The patients took 500 milligrams of vitamin C, 600 milligrams of vitamin E and 50 milligrams of beta carotene each day.

 All the women who participated at the study, which began in 1995 and ended ten years later, were aged average 40. They were all at risk of developing cardiovascular disease and some of them had the disease. At the end of the study, 624 women developed cancer and 176 died because of it.

The findings were published on December 30 online, in the “Journal of the National Cancer Institute.”