Thursday, January 17, 2008

Vitamin B6 may slash colorectal cancer risk

Increased intake of vitamin B6 from diet and supplements may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by over 20 per cent, suggests a large Scottish study of almost 5,000 people in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.

The study, by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital (Edinburgh) and the University of Aberdeen, adds to an ever growing body of science supporting the potential colorectal benefits of higher intake of the B vitamins.

The new case-control study involved 2,028 hospital-based colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and 2,722 population-based controls.

After adjusting the results for potentially confounding factors such as age, sex, location of the tumour, folate status, and certain genotypes, lead author Evropi Theodoratou report: "Moderately strong inverse and dose-dependent associations in the whole sample were found between CRC risk and the intake of dietary and total vitamin B6."

Steve - as more research comes out about B-vitamins, especially folate, B-12, and B-6, it is not surprising that they help prevent certain cancers because the three B's are an essential part of the methylation pathway; i.e., detoxification. If one is methylating properly, they are excreting toxins that otherwise would be building up in cells.

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