Is voluntary vitamin and mineral supplementation associated with better outcome in non-small cell lung cancer patients? Results from the Mayo Clinic lung cancer cohort.

Background: Some previous studies report that 80% of cancer patients take multivitamin and/or mineral supplements. To our knowledge, the consequences of such self-directed supplementation have not been examined previously in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The goal of this study was to determine whether vitamin/mineral supplementation is associated with improved survival and quality of life in a cohort of NSCLC patients.