B Vitamins and Cancer Archives - Health Tips From The Professor

Which Vitamins Reduce Breast Cancer Risk?

May 30, 2023 by Dr. Steve Chaney

How Can You Reduce Your Risk Of Breast Cancer?

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Breast cancer is scary. The good news is that treatment has gotten much better. Breast cancer is no longer a death sentence. But most women would prefer to avoid breast cancer surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy if they could.

Could something as simple as supplementation reduce your risk of developing breast cancer? If so, which vitamins should you be taking? Or, put another way, which vitamins reduce breast cancer risk?

If you ask your doctor, they will tell you, “Supplementation is a waste of money. Vitamins don’t reduce your risk of getting cancer.” And they will be correct! That’s because these are the wrong questions.

Let me explain. These are “one size fits all” questions. Studies to answer these questions start with healthy women and asks if vitamin supplementation reduces breast cancer risk for all of them. The answer to that question is, “No”. Multiple studies have confirmed this.

But the truth is more complicated. We should be asking, “Who benefits from vitamin supplementation”, instead of, “Does everyone benefit from supplementation?”

I have summed up this concept with the Venn diagram on the right. Every woman does not need supplementation. But those with poor diet, increased need, genetic predisposition, and/or certain diseases may benefit from supplementation. That is why we should be asking, “Who needs supplementation?”.

Unfortunately, while this concept of individualized treatment has led to dramatic advances for cancer drug development, it has been virtually ignored for studies on supplementation and breast cancer risk.

The current study (H Song et al., Nutrients, 14: 2644, 2022) is an exception. It asks whether obese women who wish to reduce their risk of breast may benefit more from certain micronutrients than women of normal weight.

How Was This Study Done?

The data for this analysis came from the KoGES study. This was a study administered by the Korea Agency for Disease Control and Prevention between 2004 and 2016. It was designed to provide a scientific basis for personalized prevention of chronic diseases in the Korean population.

Of the 211,721 participants enrolled in the original KoGES study, this study included data from 41,593 women who:

Underwent a health examination at 38 health examination centers upon enrollment between 2004 and 2013 and a follow up health examination between 2012 and 2016. The average follow-up period was 4.9 years.

Were cancer-free when they enrolled in the study and developed breast cancer prior to their follow-up health examination.

Had reliable diet data.

Dietary intake was based on a food frequency questionnaire administered during their initial health screening. Dietary intake of 15 micronutrients (calcium, phosphorous, iron, potassium, vitamin A, sodium, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, niacin, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, and cholesterol) and 4 macronutrients (energy, protein, fat, and carbohydrate) was determined from the food frequency data and compared to the Korean Dietary Reference Intakes (KDRIs). [Note: The Korean DRIs are slightly different than US standards.]

The women were then divided into two groups based on whether they consumed more or less than the Korean DRIs for each nutrient.

Which Vitamins Reduce Breast Cancer Risk?

There were two major findings from this study.

1) When the investigators grouped all the women in the study together:

- none of the 15 micronutrients and 4 macronutrients analyzed in this study influenced breast cancer risk.

- This confirms most previous studies that have been designed as a “one size fits all” study. So, if your doctor was relying on this kind of study, they were technically correct in saying that vitamin supplements don’t appear to reduce breast cancer risk.

2) But when the investigators separated the women by weight, an interesting dichotomy was observed:

- For obese women (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²):

- - Vitamin C intake above the recommended Korean DRI (100 mg/day) reduced the risk of breast cancer by 46%.

- - Vitamin B6 intake above the recommended Korean DRI (1.4 mg/day) reduced the risk of breast cancer by 52%.

- For women of normal weight (BMI < 25 kg/m²) neither vitamin C nor vitamin B6 had any effect on breast cancer risk.

The authors concluded, “In obese women, exceeding the recommended daily intake levels of vitamin C and vitamin B6 was associated with a lower risk of breast cancer. However, other micronutrients were not associated with breast cancer risk in these women.” [Note: Supplement use was not included in the diet survey, so above recommended intake of C and B6 was from foods consumed, not from supplements.]

What Does This Study Mean For You?

This study is a perfect example of why we should be asking, “Who benefits from vitamin supplementation”, instead of, “Does everyone benefit from supplementation?”

In terms of the Venn diagram I introduced above, some people consider obesity a disease.

But whether you consider obesity a disease or not, it does increase the need for many nutrients. So, it is conceivable that extra vitamins C and B6 might provide benefits in obese women that are not seen in non-obese women.

This is, of course, a ground-breaking study. It is the first study of its kind and deserves to be followed by other studies to confirm this observation. Ideally, these studies would test whether the same effect is seen in other population groups and determine the optimal dose of vitamin C and B6 to reduce breast cancer risk.

However, I am not optimistic that these studies will be done. It is easy to get funding for the “do vitamin supplements benefit everyone?” studies that confirm the existing prejudice against vitamin supplementation.

It is much harder to obtain funding for “who benefits from vitamin supplementation?” studies that challenge the existing paradigm. But these are the kind of studies that are needed most.

How Can You Reduce Your Risk Of Breast Cancer?

As I said, this is the first study of its kind, so you could consider the results as preliminary. However, assuming it might be true:

I do not recommend megadoses of vitamins C and B6. The above average intake of C and B6 in this study came from food alone. And we do not have any dose response studies that might define an optimal dose of C and B6.

I do recommend balance. Based on this study, multivitamins should provide enough C and B6 to have a meaningful effect on breast cancer risk. And multivitamins are inexpensive and risk-free.

In addition, there are things you can do that are proven to reduce breast cancer risk. Here is what the American Cancer Society recommends:

Get to and stay at a healthy weight.

Be physically active and avoid time sitting.

Follow a healthy eating plan.

It is best not to drink alcohol.

Think carefully about using hormone replacement therapy.

I provide more detail about each of these recommendations in a recent article in “Health Tips From the Professor”.

The Bottom Line

Most doctors will tell you that supplementation does not reduce your risk of breast cancer. And that opinion is backed up by multiple published clinical studies.

But the problem is that these studies are all asking the wrong question. They are asking, “Does supplementation reduce the risk of breast cancer for all women?”. A better question would be, “Which women benefit from supplementation?”

A recent study asked both of those questions. They looked at the effect of 15 micronutrients on breast cancer risk.

When the investigators grouped all the women in the study together:

- None of the 15 micronutrients influenced breast cancer risk.

2) But when the investigators separated the women by weight, an interesting dichotomy was observed:

- For obese women (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²):

- - Vitamin C intake above the recommended intake reduced the risk of breast cancer by 46%.

- - Vitamin B6 intake above the recommended intake reduced the risk of breast cancer by 52%.

- For women of normal weight (BMI < 25 kg/m²) neither vitamin C nor vitamin B6 had any effect on breast cancer risk.

For more information on this study, what it means for you, and proven methods for reducing breast cancer risk read the article above.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

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My posts and “Health Tips From the Professor” articles carefully avoid claims about any brand of supplement or manufacturer of supplements. However, I am often asked by representatives of supplement companies if they can share them with their customers.

My answer is, “Yes, as long as you share only the article without any additions or alterations. In particular, you should avoid adding any mention of your company or your company’s products. If you were to do that, you could be making what the FTC and FDA consider a “misleading health claim” that could result in legal action against you and the company you represent.

For more detail about FTC regulations for health claims, see this link.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/health-products-compliance-guidance

Do Supplements Interfere With Chemotherapy?

February 2, 2021 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Should You Avoid Supplement Use During Chemotherapy?

Since much of my research career was devoted to cancer research, specifically developing new chemotherapeutic drugs for treating cancer, many of you have asked me the question: “Do food supplements interfere with chemotherapy?”

My answer has always been that it is theoretically possible, but that we don’t really know the answer because the necessary studies have not been done.

However, I do know that most cancer drugs are retained in the body for a short period of time. So, my pragmatic advice has always been to avoid supplementation for a day or two before to a day or two after each round of chemotherapy. That is a strategy designed to minimize the possibility that supplementation would interfere with chemotherapy and maximize the possibility that supplementation might aid in recovery between rounds of chemotherapy.

That is why I was interested when I saw the recent headlines claiming certain supplements may interfere with chemotherapy for breast cancer. I wanted to find out if someone had finally done a definitive study on the effect of supplementation on chemotherapy.

So, I have reviewed the study (CB Ambrosone et al, Journal of Clinical Oncology, 38, 804-815, 2020) behind the headlines and will share what I discovered.

How Was The Study Done?

This study was an offshoot of a much larger Phase III clinical trial designed to determine the best schedule for administering three drugs (doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and paclitaxel) to patients with high-risk early-stage breast cancer.

The 1,134 patients enrolled in this study were given questionnaires on their use of supplements when they registered for the study to determine supplement use prior to the study. They were also given questionnaires when they completed chemotherapy to determine supplement use during chemotherapy.

The questionnaires documented use of:

Multivitamins

The antioxidants vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, carotenoids, and coenzyme Q10.

Vitamin D.

The B vitamins vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folic acid.

The minerals iron and calcium.

Omega-3 fatty acids.

Glucosamine, melatonin, and acidophilus.

Recurrence of the breast cancer and death from breast cancer were measured 6 months after chemotherapy ended.

Do Supplements Interfere With Chemotherapy?

The study reported:

The number of patients using individual antioxidant supplements was too low to determine whether individual antioxidants had any effect on treatment outcomes.

When the patients using any antioxidant supplement were pooled into a single group, there was a nonsignificant association between antioxidant supplement use during chemotherapy and an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence and death from breast cancer.

Iron use during chemotherapy was significant associated with an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence.

Vitamin B12 use during chemotherapy was significantly associated with increased risk of breast cancer recurrence and death from breast cancer.

Multivitamin use was not associated with either recurrence or death from breast cancer.

The number of patients using the other supplements was too low to determine whether those supplements had any effect on treatment outcomes.

The authors concluded: “Associations between survival outcomes and use of antioxidant and other dietary supplements are consistent with recommendations for caution among patients when considering the use of supplements, other than a multivitamin, during chemotherapy.”

This is the conclusion that generated the headlines you may have seen.

However, in their discussion the authors conceded that a previous review concluded that, “…insufficient evidence existed with regard to the safety of dietary supplements [during chemotherapy] to make recommendations, and that still may be the case.”

I will discuss the reasons for their disclaimer below. However, I will point out that disclaimers like this never seem to make it into the headlines you read.

What Are The Strengths And Weaknesses Of This Study?

The only strength of this study is that it was performed in the context of an ongoing clinical trial, with surveys conducted before chemotherapy and during chemotherapy to assess supplement use.

However, the study had multiple weaknesses that limit the ability to draw any firm conclusions from the study.

#1: The number of people using supplements in this study was very small. For example:

Only 200 people took any antioxidants during chemotherapy.

Only 137 people took a vitamin B12 supplement during chemotherapy.

Only 109 people took an iron supplement during chemotherapy.

To put this into perspective, if a drug company were submitting a new drug for approval to the FDA, they would be required to submit data from ~50-100-fold more cancer patients to prove that the drug was effective.

With this small number of supplement users, even “statistically significant” observations are questionable.

In contrast, the number of people taking a multivitamin during chemotherapy was 497. Thus, those data were a little stronger than the data for individual supplements.

#2: They did not ask why people were taking supplements. It turns out that the patients who used supplements were older and sicker. They were more likely to be overweight and to have type 2 diabetes.

These are patients who are also more likely to have poor outcomes from chemotherapy. The authors tried to correct for that, but it is virtually impossible to make these corrections when the number of patients taking supplements is so low.

#3: They did not ask about the dose of supplements people were taking.

Multivitamins typically contain RDA levels of antioxidants and vitamin B12, so it would be safe to assume that RDA levels of antioxidants and vitamin B12 are safe during chemotherapy.

Approximately 50% of the women in the study were premenopausal, so it is likely that they were taking a multivitamin with iron. That suggests that RDA levels of iron are safe during chemotherapy for premenopausal women.

In short, the association between supplement use and poorer outcomes from chemotherapy is tenuous. If there is any association, it is likely with high dose individual supplements rather the lower levels of the same nutrients found in a multivitamin.

Is An Effect Of Supplement Use On Chemotherapy Plausible?

As a biochemist, the next question I ask is whether there is a plausible mechanism for an effect of any of these supplements on chemotherapy outcomes.

For two of the drugs in the regimen (paclitaxel and cyclophosphamide), free radical formation may contribute to their effectiveness, but it is not their main mechanism of action. Thus, it is plausible that high dose antioxidant supplements could make these drugs less effective, but the effect should be relatively small.

Tumors require high amounts of iron for proliferation, so it is plausible that excess iron could make tumors more resistant to chemotherapy. However, for premenopausal women, multivitamins with iron did not interfere with the drugs used in this study. Thus, it appears likely that RDA levels of iron, where appropriate, do not interfere with chemotherapy.

The authors said that the reason for the observed effects of vitamin B12 on chemotherapy in their study “remains to be understood”. However, the answer might be found in the dosage of vitamin B12. A previous study reported that doses of vitamin B12 that were greater than 20 times the RDA increased the risk of lung cancer.

If people in this study were taking doses of vitamin B12 in excess of 20 times the RDA, it would provide a plausible explanation for B12 interfering with chemotherapy. If not, there is no known explanation. In any case, I do not recommend taking such high doses of any supplement.

Should You Avoid Supplement Use During Chemotherapy?

Now, let’s get back to the original question: “Should you avoid supplement use during chemotherapy?” If you read the headlines saying, “Supplement Use During Chemotherapy May Be Risky”, you might think that the answer is an unqualified yes. That is also what your doctor is likely to think.

However, when you analyze the study behind the headlines you realize that the evidence supporting the headlines is very weak.

So, that puts us back to where we were before the study was published. Simply put:

It is theoretically possible that supplements interfere with chemotherapy, but we don’t know for sure.

A pragmatic approach is to avoid supplementation for a day or two before to a day or two after each round of chemotherapy. This is a strategy designed to minimize the possibility that supplementation would interfere with chemotherapy and maximize the possibility that supplementation might aid in recovery between rounds of chemotherapy.

Note: This is generic advice. I am not a medical doctor, so it would be unethical for me to provide individualized advice on how to minimize interactions between supplements and chemotherapy. What I recommend is that you ask your doctor whether my generic recommendations make sense for your cancer and your drug regimen.

If this study advanced our knowledge at all, it would be that:

The supplements most likely to interfere with chemotherapy appear to be high dose antioxidants, vitamin B12, and iron supplements.

Multivitamins, even multivitamins with iron when appropriate, are unlikely to interfere with chemotherapy.

The Bottom Line

Recent headlines have warned, “Supplement Use During Chemotherapy May Be Risky”. Is that true?

However, when you analyze the study behind the headlines you realize that the evidence supporting the headlines is very weak.

So, that puts us back to where we were before the study was published. Simply put:

It is theoretically possible that supplements interfere with chemotherapy, but we don’t know for sure.

A pragmatic approach is to avoid supplementation for a day or two before to a day or two after each round of chemotherapy. This is a strategy designed to minimize the possibility that supplementation would interfere with chemotherapy and maximize the possibility that supplementation might aid in recovery between rounds of chemotherapy.

Note: This is generic advice. I am not a medical doctor, so it would be unethical for me to provide individualized advice on how to minimize interactions between supplements and the chemotherapy drugs you are on. What I recommend is that you ask your doctor whether my generic recommendations make sense for your cancer and your drug regimen.

If this study advanced our knowledge at all, it would be that:

The supplements most likely to interfere with chemotherapy appear to be high dose antioxidants, vitamin B12, and iron supplements.

Multivitamins, even multivitamins with iron when appropriate, are unlikely to interfere with chemotherapy.

For more details read the article above.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Do B Vitamins Cause Lung Cancer In Men

December 5, 2017 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Do B Vitamins Cause Lung Cancer In Men?

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Last week one of my readers contacted me and asked me to comment on an article in The Atlantic titled: “Vitamin B6 and B12 Supplements Appear to Cause Cancer in Men”. I did what any good scientist would do. I read the original study (T.M. Brasky et al, Journal of Clinical Oncology, 35: 3440-3448, 2017 ) and analyzed the data, so I could provide you with the truth behind the headlines. Continue reading to find the answer to “Do B vitamins cause lung cancer in men?”

I will give you my analysis in a minute. First, let me use the internet chatter about this study as a perfect example of how nutrition myths are born.

How Did Journalists Interpret The Clinical Study?

Journalists are not trained scientists. They seldom read the whole article. They rely on the abstract of the article and interpret it through their “filter” of reality. The author of The Atlantic article did a reasonably good job of reporting the information in the abstract. However, news articles need to be spectacular to attract readers, so the information was presented selectively.

The author was clearly trying to grab your attention by hyping the risk. For example, in page one of his article, he makes the claim that “taking vitamin B6 and B12 supplements in high doses (like those sold in many stores) appears to triple or almost quadruple some people’s risk of lung cancer.” That is enough to get your attention!

If you read to page 4 of his article, you discover that the 3-4-fold increase in risk only applies to smokers. If you read to page 5, you discover that this only applies to people taking 20 times the RDA of B6 or B12 from individual supplements.

However, in today’s world many readers have the attention span of gnats. They will read the headline and perhaps the first couple of paragraphs. Most readers of The Atlantic article will conclude that supplementation with B6 and B12 causes a 3-4-fold increase in lung cancer in men. A nutrition myth will be born!

The headlines were similar from other news sources: CNN led with “High Doses of Vitamin B Supplements Tied to Lung Cancer, Study Says”. Huffington Post said: “Men: Taking Vitamin B6 and B12 Could Increase Your Risk of Lung Cancer.” USA Today said: “Risk of Lung Cancer Increases with Vitamin B, Study Says.”

In all fairness, the articles themselves offered a more balanced interpretation of the study, but many people do not read beyond the headlines. The headlines alerted people to the potential of B6 and B12 supplementation to increase the risk of lung cancer, but readers may miss the fact that this risk is only seen in men, only associated with mega-doses of individual vitamins, and only seen in smokers.

How Will Bloggers Interpret The Clinical Study?

It is only a matter of time before the same headlines start appearing in your favorite nutrition blogs. Many bloggers like to create sensational headlines and hype the results of clinical studies. They don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story. Of course, once the claim that vitamins B6 and B12 increase the risk of lung cancer gets repeated often enough on the internet, people will start to believe it must be true. The food myth will become firmly established.

How Will The Medical Community Interpret The Clinical Study?

The medical community usually filters studies like this through a belief system that supplements do more harm than good. They tend to ignore dozens of studies showing the benefits of supplementation and focus on the one of two suggesting they might cause harm. I predict that doctors may start advising their male patients to avoid supplements with vitamins B6 and B12. I also suspect many doctors may start measuring your blood levels of B6 and B12 and warning you to cut back if they are above average.

How Does A Scientist Interpret The Clinical Study?

Do B vitamins cause lung cancer in men? For a scientifically accurate evaluation of a study like this, one needs to read the study carefully, analyze the data, and evaluate the statistics. Let me walk you through stepwise what I found when I did that.

The increased lung cancer risk was only seen in men, not in women. That would be the expected result for prostate cancer, but it is a bit unexpected for lung cancer. There is no apparent mechanism for explaining this effect.
There was no effect of folic acid on lung cancer risk.
Vitamins B6 and B12 were associated with a 30-40% increased risk of lung cancer in men. However, that statistic is misleading because:
- The increased risk of lung cancer was only seen when B6 or B12 were taken as individual supplements. There was no increased risk when B6 and B12 were in a multivitamin where all the B vitamins are in balance.
- The increased risk of lung cancer was only seen when B6 or B12 were taken as mega-doses greater than 20 times the RDA. There was no increased risk of lung cancer for doses of B6 or B12 that were less than 20 times the RDA.
Mega-doses (>20 times the RDA) of vitamins B6 or B12 were associated with a 2-fold increased risk of lung cancer in men. However, that statistic is misleading because:
- The increased risk of lung cancer in men taking mega-doses of B6 or B12 was only seen in smokers. In the words of the authors: “There were too few [lung cancer] patients among never smokers to evaluate associations [between B vitamins and lung cancer].”

Do B Vitamins Cause Lung Cancer In Men?

Much of what you read on the internet about this study is misleading. For example:

The claim that vitamins B6 and B12 increase lung cancer in men by 30% was entirely driven by men who were taking >20 times the RDA of B6 or B12 as individual supplements. The risk was zero for anyone taking lower doses B6 and B12.
The claim that mega-doses of B6 or B12 increase lung cancer risk in men by 2-fold was entirely driven by male smokers. The risk was zero for non-smokers, even non-smokers taking mega-doses of B6 or B12.
The only unambiguous conclusion from this study is that male smokers who take >20 times the RDA of either B6 or B12 as individual supplements have a 3-4-fold increased risk of lung cancer.

So, do B vitamins cause lung cancer in men?

What Does This Mean For You?

The take home lessons from this study are clear.

It is almost never a good idea to take mega-doses of individual vitamin and mineral supplements. The only exception is when they are prescribed for a specific medical condition by your health professional and that health professional is monitoring you for potential toxicity.
If you smoke, mega-doses of vitamins won’t protect you, and they may harm you. The best advice is to stop smoking.

Those are the scientifically based recommendations from the study. However, you are more likely to hear recommendations that you shouldn’t take B vitamins if you are a man. After all, nutrition myths don’t need to be based on science.

The Bottom Line

The internet is ablaze with claims that a recent study shows the vitamins B6 and B12 increase the risk of lung cancer in men. These claims are misleading because:

The claim that vitamins B6 and B12 increase lung cancer in men by 30% was entirely driven by men who were taking >20 times the RDA of B6 or B12 as individual supplements. The risk was zero for anyone taking lower doses B6 and B12.
The claim that mega-doses of B6 or B12 increase lung cancer risk in men by 2-fold was entirely driven by male smokers. The risk was zero for non-smokers, even non-smokers taking mega-doses of B6 or B12.
The only unambiguous conclusion from this study is that male smokers who take >20 times the RDA of either B6 or B12 as individual supplements have a 3-4-fold increased risk of lung cancer.

The take home lessons from this study are clear.

It is almost never a good idea to take mega-doses of individual vitamin and mineral supplements. The only exception is when they are prescribed for a specific medical condition by your health professional and that health professional is monitoring you for potential toxicity.
If you smoke, mega-doses of vitamins won’t protect you, and they may harm you. The best advice is to stop smoking.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.