10.01.12
Nutraceutical: Vitamin B6
Indication: Breast cancer
Source: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention, August 9, 2012;[Epub ahead of print]
Research: Researchers examined the association of pre-diagnostic plasma concentrations of pyridoxal-5’-phosphate (PLP), an active form of vitamin B6, with postmenopausal breast cancer risk in a case-control study nested in the Multiethnic Cohort in Hawaii and Southern California, including 706 cases and 706 controls matched on date of birth, ethnicity, study site, date of blood draw, time of blood draw, hours of fasting prior to blood draw, and use of menopausal hormones.
Results: Women with plasma PLP concentrations in the highest quartile had a 30% reduced risk of invasive breast cancer compared to the women in the lowest PLP quartile. The association appeared to be limited to cases with hormone receptor-positive tumors and remained unchanged in the analysis restricted to women with blood samples collected more than one year prior to cancer diagnosis. According to researchers, these data suggest that higher circulating levels of vitamin B6 are associated with a reduced risk of invasive postmenopausal breast cancer. Further, these results, in combination with information from two other prospective studies, suggest a role for vitamin B6 in the prevention of postmenopausal breast cancer. Additional studies are needed, however, to further investigate potential heterogeneity of the vitamin B6 association with breast cancer risk by tumor hormone receptor status.