Food-derived B Vitamins Can Decrease Risk of Pancreatic Cancer in Lean People

Filed in archive Cases , Studies , Treatment on June 4, 2007

In people who were at or below normal body weight, decreased risk for developing pancreatic cancer was observed if they took in high levels of vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folate from food and not from supplements.

Such were the findings recently published in the June 1 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The study determined that their risk was 81 percent, 73 percent, and 59 percent lower, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folate respectively, compared with participants who did not eat as much of these nutrients or who weighed more.

The researchers also say that they uncovered another interesting trend that some people who received these nutrients from multivitamin pills had an increased risk of developing the disease.

This must be an evidence to prove that it is indeed better to obtain nutrients from food than from drug supplements.
According to the study's lead investigator, Eva Schernhammer, M.D., Dr.P.H., an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School:

"All we can say is that a person who has reason to be concerned about their risk of developing this cancer, which is relatively rare but quite deadly, should maintain a normal weight and eat their fruit and vegetables.

This is a preliminary, but intriguing, finding because it suggests that something in the vitamins may fuel pancreatic cancer growth."

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer because it can already spread even before being detected. By the time it is detected, it has most often metastasized to other parts of the body that even surgery would not be an option of treatment.

But I guess it more a lifetime eating of more fruits and vegetables and not just gorging on them at a certain time just to decrease the risk of certain cancers, in this case pancreatic.

Vitamin B6 is found in a wide variety of foods including fortified cereals, beans, meat, poultry, fish, and some fruits and vegetables while Vitamin B12 is naturally found in foods that come from animals, including fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and milk products.

Folate (the water-soluble form of Vitamin B9) is found naturally in leafy green vegetables (like spinach and turnip greens), fruits (like citrus fruits and juices), and dried beans and peas while its synthetic counterpart - folic acid - is available as supplements.

Find more details from the AACR report.