Folic acid and B vitamins are OK, but they’re not cancer fighters

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Take those folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 supplements every day if you want, just don’t expect them to lower your cancer risk.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School analyzed data from a study of 5,442 women age 42 and older who were at high risk of cardiovascular disease and who had taken a daily combination of the three supplments or a placebo for more than seven years.

The supplements are crucial in DNA synthesis, repair and general functioning, which suggests higher levels of them could lower cancer risk. Some observational studies had supported this notion. But the research has been far from definitive, with one study even suggesting a negative effect.

So the researchers went looking through data from the Women’s Antioxidant and Folic Acid Cardiovascular Study, which assessed effects of the supplements on cardiovascular disease. This time, the analysis was meant to find differences in breast cancer or invasive cancer among participants. And it turned up ... not much.

Specifically, 187 women in the supplement group developed cancer, compared to 192 in the placebo group, a difference not considered significant.

Said the researchers in their conclusion, published Nov. 5 in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.:

For what it’s worth, the study assessing the supplements’ effects on cardiovascular disease didn’t find much either.

-- Tami Dennis

redit: Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times