B12 and Folic Acid combo may increase cancer risk

[Hair Potion #9]

Years ago, I used to take a B Complex vitamin everyday, and I recently started taking NSI Hair, Skin, & Nails Formula mainly for its Biotin, Selenium and MSM. It also contains the B vitamins and Folic Acid.

Several months ago, I came across a Norwegian study from November, 2009 that was widely reported, and stated that a combination of Vitamin B12 and folic acid can increase the risk of cancer. There was criticism in some circles because it was felt that the study included too many former and current tobacco smokers, however the findings raised concern in the medical community.

Information can be found on the following sites (paraphrased in quotes - see the sites for the full articles):


Video:

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9113414


High-dose Folic Acid and B12 May Hike Cancer Risk:


http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare ... Care/17072

High-dose folic acid and vitamin B12 supplements were associated with an increased incidence of cancer -- particularly lung cancer -- in a post-hoc analysis of two Norwegian trials.

Among study participants who received folic acid plus vitamin B12, some 341 (10%) developed cancer compared with 288 (8.4%) of those who did not receive the two vitamins (HR 1.21, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.41, P=0.02), according to Marta Ebbing, MD, of Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, and colleagues.

In the folic acid group, there were 56 cases of lung cancer compared with 36 cases in those who didn't get the supplements (HR 1.59, 99% CI 0.92 to 2.75), the researchers reported in the Nov. 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"This is yet another study showing that there may be harms in taking high-dose nutritional supplements," said Tim Byers, MD, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center in Denver, who was not involved in the study.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/ ... 220&page=3

The researchers found that patients who received folic acid had a 21 percent increased risk for developing cancer. In addition, of the 341 patients who received folic acid and developed cancer, 136 died -- a 38 percent increased risk compared with patients who did not take folic acid and developed cancer.

The most common cancers associated with folic acid were colorectal, lung, prostate and blood cancer, the researchers noted.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1506/83/34517 ... -risk.html

The United States fortifies flour and grain products to decrease the incidence of neural tube defects in pregnancy. Because Norway does not fortify its food products with folic acid, researchers felt this was a good population to study the effects of controlled supplementation. The amount of supplementation given to the patient in the Norway study was significantly higher than what most people in the United States receive from food fortification.

The study is not the first to suggest that folic acid may increase a person’s risk of cancer. A study in March 2009 suggested that folic acid supplements raise the risk of prostate cancer, and a study from April 2009 found an increased risk of colon cancer. Animal studies have suggested that folic acid enhance the growth of abnormal tissue in the colon, though the results were inconsistent.

A confounding factor of the study was smoking. About 70% of the patients in the study were current or former smokers, including 94% of those who developed lung cancer. “The real headline of this study should be that smoking increases the risk of lung cancer,â€￾ said Andrew Shao, VP for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs with the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN). Shao goes on to say that the fact that lung cancer rates have also dropped since mandatory fortification began suggest that the B vitamins do not promote lung cancer.

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/200911 ... ancer-risk

Nov. 17, 2009 -- There is new evidence that folic acid, taken in large doses, may promote some cancers.

Heart patients in Norway who took folic acid and vitamin B12 supplements were found to have a slightly increased risk for cancer and death from all causes, compared to heart patients who did not take the supplements in a study published in TheJournal of the American Medical Association.

In a statement issued in response to the study, a spokesman for the supplement-industry trade association Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) noted that the lung cancer finding has not been seen in other studies.

"The real headline of this study should be that smoking increases the risk of lung cancer -- the study found that a total of 94% of the subjects who developed lung cancer were either current or former smokers," CRN Vice President for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Andrew Shao, PhD, says in a news release.

Bettina F. Drake, PhD, of Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, says it is not likely that fortification has led to an increase in cancers in the U.S. In fact, several studies suggest just the opposite.

"We would expect to see an excess in cancers within a few years after folic acid fortification began, and we have not seen that," she tells WebMD.

Drake says it is possible that folic acid protects against cancer at certain points in life and promotes the growth of cancers at other times. It may also be true that too little folate in the blood or too much of the B vitamin are both associated with an increased risk for cancer.

That last sentence really can confuse a supplement user!

Has this study been posted here before and is anyone familiar with it?

 

[CCS]

I believe the study. I read some studies saying B12 and folic acid increase stem cell activity. Some guys, myself included, want to take it so our hair stem cells will get activated.


The problem with treatments that build and repair tissue is they also tend to feed cancer when it does pop up.

 

[purecontrol]

High-dose Folic Acid and B12 May Hike Cancer Risk

So don't take a high dose!!!

Also what are they trying to say is a "high" dose???

One thing to consider is that if you are and undermethylator then folic acid will only make your condition worse no matter what the dose is.