This study is scheduled to be presented today at the annual conference of the American Association for Cancer Research. Meeting presentations usually precede publication but until a study is published, the results can’t be considered final.

That said, this suggests that two pills may protect women against breast cancer: a multi-vitamin and a calcium supplement.

As always, before you add anything to your daily medication regimen, check in with your doctor.

If this finding stands up in additional studies, this is a big benefit requiring little action on the patient’s part.

U. S. News and World Report/Health Day News

“Women who take multivitamin tablets along with calcium supplements seem to have a reduced risk of developing breast cancer, new research suggests.

“The authors of the study, which is to be presented Sunday at the American Association for Cancer Research annual conference in Washington, D.C., did not separate out which specific vitamins might be beneficial but suggested that the interactions of different vitamins together might account for the beneficial effect.

“The effect was seen with multivitamins, not with single vitamins,” said study co-author Dr. Jaime Matta, a professor of pharmacology, physiology and toxicology at Ponce School of Medicine in Ponce, Puerto Rico. “It’s possible that the vitamins work better together than individually.”

“We found that taking multivitamins and calcium supplements were strongly protective against breast cancer,” said Dr. Manuel Bayona, a professor in the public health program at the Ponce School of Medicine. “Which vitamins exactly? We don’t know because they were multivitamins.”

Source: U.S. News and World Report, April 18, 2010