Significantly reduce your risk of colorectal cancer
Hard Working Healer
Take away your enzymes and amino acids, and you wouldn’t have much going on. In fact, there would be no YOU, because your body (and life as we know it) wouldn’t exist at all without the thousands of biological functions that enzymes and amino acids help set into motion.
And that’s all you really need to know to appreciate the importance of vitamin B6. This mighty B plays a key role in activating enzyme systems and ensuring proper amino acid function.
And when all of that is running smoothly, your risk of developing one of the most dreaded cancers drops significantly.
Very revealing
In his groundbreaking 1998 book titled “Vitamin B6 Therapy: Nature’s Versatile Healer,” John M. Ellis, M.D., notes that nearly 120 enzymes need B6 to function properly, and 19 out of your body’s 20 amino acids also rely on B6.
More than a decade after his book appeared, Dr. Ellis is probably pleased with the way B6 research has gone.
In 2005, Harvard Medical School published research that examined ten years of medical records from the Nurses’ Health Study. Comparing cases of colorectal cancer against blood tests, researchers found that subjects with the highest B6 concentrations had a 44 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer and nearly a 60 percent lower risk of polyps compared to subjects with the lowest B6 levels.
Later in the year, another research team examined 360 subjects with polyps and 425 polyp-free subjects and found that a lower risk of colorectal polyps was linked to high intake of five key nutrients: folate, beta-carotene, and vitamins C, D, and B6.
In 2006, another Harvard study found a significant association between dietary intake of folate and vitamin B6 and a reduced risk of colorectal cancer.
More recently, researchers at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh recruited more than 2,000 subjects with colorectal cancer, and about 2,700 healthy control subjects. When vitamin consumption was assessed for each subject, researchers found that high levels of B6 intake reduced colorectal cancer risk by more than 20 percent.
In addition, the Edinburgh team conducted a meta-analysis of colorectal cancer studies in which B6 was tested. The result: High B6 intake reduced colorectal cancer by nearly 20 percent. In this analysis, B6 protection against colorectal cancer was slightly higher among subjects over the age of 55.
Lifting the levels
Unfortunately, even healthy people, both young and old, tend to be deficient in B6.
In 2007, Tufts University researchers reported that a modest deficiency of key components in the B complex (including B6) increases colorectal cancer risk. That’s why Dr. Ellis believes that B6 supplements should be added to a B6-rich diet in order to maintain sufficient amounts of the vitamin.
Bananas and chicken breast have particularly high levels of vitamin B6. Red meat, fish, beans, fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens are also good sources.
As for supplementing, HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., recommends 100 mg of B6 daily, along with other B vitamins, of course, and magnesium. Dr. Spreen: “B6 is definitely more effective in the company of magnesium – they work together intimately in the body.”
Talk to your doctor before supplementing with magnesium or vitamin B6, especially if you have Parkinson’s disease. Evidence shows that high levels of B6 may reduce potency of levodopa, a Parkinson’s medication. Note also that levodopa may contribute to B6 deficiency.
Sources:
“Vitamin B6 Therapy: Nature’s Versatile Healer” by John M. Ellis, M.D., and Jean Pamplin, 1988, Avery Publishing
“Dietary Vitamin B6 Intake and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer” Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, Vol. 17, No. 1, 1/1/08, cebp.aacrjournals.org
