Multivitamins slash lung cancer risk by 43 percent
Added 25.01.2010
Specific vitamins lower risk of lung cancer
A recent study has found that vitamins A, C and K and carotenoids can lower the risk of developing lung cancer in current and former smokers by as much as 43%. As good as this sounds, we are not encouraging you to smoke with the hope that taking multivitamins alone will help you prevent lung cancer and other diseases associated with smoking! A healthy lifestyle, which includes taking multivitamins, is essential.How do vitamins protect you against cancer?
The mechanisms by which vitamins protect you are a little complicated; but, in "simple" terms, DNA methylation is a necessary process in healthy cells during our development and throughout our entire life. DNA mehtylation allows cells to divide and differenciate without changing our DNA sequence. DNA methylation is vital to us because it can turn off genes that are not needed or that can cause disease. What happens in cancer, however, is that abnormal or defective DNA methylation mistakenly turns off genes that actually prevent a cell from becoming cancerous.Until very recently, it was not known how and why DNA methylation became defective and caused cancer. Many researchers suggested a link between DNA methylation defects and deficiency in certain nutrients. No doubt this study is confirming their hypothesis. Vitamins A, C and K and carotenoids protect against lung cancer by reducing abnormal DNA methylation.
The Scientific Study
Background information
1,101 participants in the Lovelace Smokers Cohort filled out the Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire and gave a sputum sample. Sputum samples were assessed for promoter methylation of eight genes commonly silenced in lung cancer and linked to risk of this disease. Methylation was categorised as low (less than two genes methylated) or high (two or more genes methylated).
Results
- Multivitamin users had a 43% lower risk of gene methylation.
- People who ate 12 servings of leafy green vegetables per month had a 17% lower risk of gene methylation.
- Participants who had a daily intake of at least 750 mcg of folate had a 16% lower risk of DNA methylation.
Conclusion
Taking multivitamins and other phytonutrients daily can significantly lower the risk of lung cancer in current and former smokers.
References:
Dr. Bo Nielsen's comments:
It has recently been quite popular for the media to claim that smokers who take food supplements have a higher risk of developing lung cancer. This study proves the opposite: a combination of vitamins can actually reduce your risk of lung cancer by 43%. How can this be? In contrast to previous studies these researchers prove that a mix of natural vitamins in the right dosages is able to protect us against gene methylation that may change our DNA and result in cancer. So how can we translate this into a simple conclusion: taking daily supplements with sufficient amounts of vitamins A, C and K and carotenoids will result in a 43% lower risk of developing lung cancer. What is also interesting is that the researchers find that eating 12 servings of leafy green vegetables per month is not as effective (only 17% reduction) as taking the right supplements (43% reduction)
But of course you should: eat healthy and take a daily supplement with all the vitamins and minerals in effective dosages if you want to reduce your risk of developing cancer, conclude the researchers.
