Vitamin B and Lung Cancer: A Possible Link

Heavy vitamin B6 and B12 intake may raise men's lung cancer risk

(RxWiki News) Your high-dose B vitamin supplement may be raising your risk of lung cancer, a new study found.

This study found that men who took high-dose vitamin B6 and B12 supplements had a two to four times higher risk of lung cancer than men who didn't take the supplements.

The authors of this study noted that B vitamin supplements have been marketed as energy boosters. Also, some users believed the supplements would actually lower their cancer risk.

Now, the health impact of these supplements is in question. These researchers studied B vitamin intake in over 77,000 men and adjusted for lifestyle factors that could be tied to lung cancer, such as smoking. The men with the highest vitamin B6 and B12 intake over the previous decade were also the most likely to develop lung cancer.

Men who smoked and took high doses of B vitamins were the most likely group to develop lung cancer in this study.

These researchers noted that the potentially dangerous B vitamin dosage levels were much higher than what you might get from a daily multivitamin and much higher than the daily recommended allowance.

B vitamins are still an important part of a healthy diet. If you are concerned about your vitamin intake, talk to your health care provider.

This study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The National Cancer Institute and Office of Dietary Supplements funded this research. Information on potential conflicts of interest was not available at the time of publication.

Review Date: 
August 26, 2017