There’s no doubt about it, cancer is one of the most frightening medical conditions. Some varieties of the disease, like lung cancer, receive more media attention than others and so we can have a tendency of feeling completely vulnerable to it. It’s not surprising that lung cancer is prevalent among smokers and the risk of cigarettes is well documented. But now there is new research that suggests there is a method to help anyone, including smokers, reduce their risk of developing lung cancer.
In a study of current and former smokers, scientists discovered a link between a lower risk of lung cancer and increasing levels of vitamin B6 and methionine. It’s thought that methionine, an amino acid, and vitamin B6 may prevent gene mutations and damage to your DNA. This leads the researchers to believe that these nutrients could lower the risk of people developing cancer, including smokers.
The study looked at 400,000 individuals to try to understand the link between the nutrients and the lower rates of cancer. The researchers noticed that decreasing levels of cancer were present in former and current smokers and people who had never smoked, suggesting that the results of the study are not confounded by smoking.
The team were quick to point out that it’s not clear that vitamin B6 and methionine are causing the lower rates of cancer, but that there is obviously an association between them. Because lung cancer is common in former smokers as well as current smokers, the need to find methods of preventing it effectively is very high.
Further research is now required to establish if an agreed set of guidelines can be found for optimal levels of vitamin B6 and methionine to make sure that the risk of developing lung cancer is as low as possible.
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