Men who take multivitamin supplements on a daily basis may reduce their risk of developing cancer, a new study indicates.

According to US scientists, multivitamins are taken ‘to prevent nutritional deficiency'. However, while they have never been definitively shown to reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases, many people worldwide continue to take them for this exact reason.

This new study involved almost 15,000 men, aged 50 or older, including more than 1,300 with a history of cancer. They were monitored between 1997 and June 2011. All received either a multivitamin supplement or a placebo on a daily basis.

The scientists found that those taking multivitamins had an overall 8% reduced risk of developing cancer, a figure which they described as ‘modest, but statistically significant'.

"Although the main reason to take multivitamins is to prevent nutritional deficiency, these data provide support for the potential use of multivitamin supplements in the prevention of cancer in middle-aged and older men," the team concluded.

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.