Vitamin B6 may slash colorectal cancer risk

[Guest guest]

Colleagues, the following is FYI and does not necessarily reflect my own

opinion. I have no further knowledge of the topic. If you do not wish to

receive these posts, set your email filter to filter out any messages

coming from @nutritionucanlivewith.com and the program will remove

anything coming from me.

---------------------------------------------------------

Vitamin B6 may slash colorectal cancer risk

By ls

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=82608-vitamin-b-colorectal-can\

cer-folate

17/01/2008 - Increased intake of vitamin B6 from dietary and supplements

may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by over 20 per cent, suggests a

large ish study.

Almost 5,000 people took part in the study, which reported a

dose-dependent link between intake of the vitamin and the risk of

colorectal cancer, report the researchers 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.

There are 363,000 new cases of colorectal cancer every year in Europe,

with an estimated 945,000 globally. There are about 492,000 deaths from

the cancer each year. Only about five per cent of colorectal adenomas

are thought to become malignant, and this process could take between

five and ten years.

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. "

Furthermore, a meta-analysis of published studies supported these

results, wrote the researchers. High vitamin B6 intakes were reported to

reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by 19 per cent. The protective

effect was found to be higher among 55-year-old individuals (1,001 cases

compared to 1,010 controls), they added.

" Evidence from larger cohort and experimental studies is now required to

confirm and define the anticarcinogenic actions of vitamin B6 and to

explore the mechanisms by which this effect is mediated, " concluded the

researchers.

However, late in 2007, researchers from Tufts University reported that

the link between B vitamin intake and the health of the colon and rectum

may be more complicated than previously thought.

Writing in the Journal of Nutrition (Vol. 137, pp. 2701-2708), the Tufts

researchers stated that moderate deficiency of folate, riboflavin, and

vitamins B6 and B12 together may promote the risk of DNA damage and

increase the risk of colorectal cancers.

This earlier study focused on the Wnt pathway - a cellular signalling

pathway linked to more than 85 per cent of colon cancers - and found

that mild depletion of all four B vitamins was needed to promote the

risk of tumour formation.

Previously, studies have suggested that folate deficiency alone may

promote the risk of colorectal cancer. The new research suggests a more

complex interaction.

However, the subject of folate and colorectal cancer is controversial,

however, with some studies reporting that the B-vitamin may in fact

increase the risk of the disease. On the other hand, other studies have

reported protective benefits from folate for colorectal cancer.

Source: Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention

1st January 2008, Volume 17, Pages 171-182, doi:

10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-07-0621

" Dietary Vitamin B6 Intake and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer "

Authors: E. Theodoratou, S.M. Farrington, A. Tenesa, G. McNeill, R.

Cetnarskyj, R.A. Barnetson, M.E. Porteous, M.G. Dunlop, H.

--

ne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar@... >

" Ask the Parkinson Dietitian " http://www.parkinson.org/

" Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease "

" Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy "

http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/