Vitamin B6 Found to Help Colorectal Health

[Guest guest]

The US Government's Institute of Medicine says that 200 mg per day is the No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) for Vitamin B6. This means 200 mg is a dose that any adult can take long term without toxicity, according to the government's conservative analysis of the published scientific literature going back about 60 years.

I take 200 mg of Vitamin B6 per day myself.

See also: www.michaelmooney.net/VitaminSafetyDosesComplete.pdf

Mooney

www.michaelmooney.net

www.medibolics.com

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Vitamin B6 Found to Help Colorectal Health

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, January 18, 2008, abstracted from “Dietary Vitamin B6 Intake and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer” in the January 1, 2008 issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention

Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin present in the human body that is found most commonly in poultry, fish, meat, legumes, nuts, potatoes, and whole grains1. The current reference daily intake for vitamin B6 is 1.4 mg per day for men and 1.2 mg per day for women2. Vitamin B6’s importance in the body lies in its involvement helping break down folic acid and in helping break down homocysteine to glutathione(3, 4).

Now a new study5 has drawn increased attention to vitamin B6’s role in colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer diagnosed in men and in women in the United States, excluding skin cancers. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and is estimated to have caused about 52,180 deaths (26,000 men and 26,180 women) during 20076. With an average cost of between $35,000 and $80,000 for direct medical care for each cancer episode, total cost for treatment of anticipated new cases in 2007 is estimated at $8.3 billion7.

In the study, researchers compared 2,028 cases of colorectal cancer to 2,722 controls from a case-control study of the Study of Colorectal Cancer in Scotland. This study aimed to recruit prospectively all incident cases of adenocarcinoma of colorectum in patients aged 16 to 79 years presenting to surgical units in Scotland. The researchers found that those with the highest intake of both dietary and supplements (at least 3.39 mg vitamin B6 per day) had a 26% reduced risk of colorectal cancer compared to those with the lowest intakes (2.58 mg or less vitamin B6 per day).

These results confirmed an earlier study finding that vitamin B6 plays a role in colorectal health8. But while the researchers stated “supplement intake was significantly associated with the disease status”, they did not make a recommendation on optimal vitamin B6 intake, but just overall intake.

For the researchers, this study demonstrated “a moderately strong inverse association” between vitamin B6 intake and colorectal cancer risk but ultimately concluded that “evidence from larger cohort and experimental studies is now required to confirm and define the [cell health] actions of vitamin B6.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:PitchingDoc@... or visiting his web site at www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

Reference:

1 Fairfield KM, Fletcher RH. Vitamins for chronic disease prevention in adults: scientific review. JAMA 2002;287:3116–26

2 Department of Health. Dietary reference values for food energy and nutrients for the United Kingdom. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; 1991

3 Choi SW, Mason JB. Folate status: effects on pathways of colorectal carcinogenesis. J Nutr 2002;132:2413–8S

4 Kim YI. Folate and DNA methylation: a mechanistic link between folate deficiency and colorectal cancer? Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2004;13:511–9

5 Theodoratou E. Dietary Vitamin B6 Intake and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008 17: 171-182 doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-07-0621

6 “What Are The Key Statistics For Colorectal Cancer?” posted on www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_1X_What_are_the_key_statistics_for_colon_and_rectum_cancer.asp

7 Wei EK, Giovannucci E, Selhub J, Fuchs CS, Hankinson SE, Ma J. Plasma vitamin B6 and the risk of colorectal cancer and adenoma in women. J Natl Cancer Inst 2005;97:684–92