Is there a relationship between vitamin B6 status and cancer?
“We examined the association of prediagnostic plasma concentrations of pyridoxal-5’-phosphate (PLP), an active form of vitamin B6, with postmenopausal breast cancer risk.
“Women with plasma PLP concentrations in the highest quartile had a 30% reduced risk of invasive breast cancer (CI: 0.50–0.98) compared to the women in the lowest PLP quartile (P for trend=0.02).
“These data suggest that higher circulating levels of vitamin B6 are associated with a reduced risk of invasive postmenopausal breast cancer.” Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3493882/
There’s more.
“Several studies have shown that insufficient intake of vitamin B6 is associated with increased cancer risk and growing evidence indicates that diabetes patients have a higher risk of developing various types of cancer.” Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2018.00388/full
And more.
“Patients with breast (4), or colon (5,6), bladder (7), or laryngeal (8) cancers, and or Hodgkin’s disease (1) have lower plasma PLP levels compared with healthy controls. In vitro studies have shown that pharmacologic doses of vitamin B6 (from 0.25 to 5 mM) inhibit cell proliferation and protein synthesis in HepG2 human hepatoma cells (9), human malignant melanoma (10,11), and human lymphocytes (12). Mice pretreated with pyridoxal followed by injection of B16 melanoma cells had a 62% reduction in tumor weight compared to controls (11). These results suggest that vitamin B6 may have potential use as an antineoplastic agent.” Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1513048/
This all sounds positive. However, B6 supports heme synthesis, the rate at which I make new blood. If I take too much B6, I might make new blood too quickly.
But I don’t want to make new blood too quickly. I want the cell turnover rate of my blood to be in the proper relationship to the cell turnover rate of the rest of me. According to the hypothesis presented in these pages—which posits time as the missing link in our analysis of disease—if I make new blood too quickly, I have leukemia.
Vitamin B6, Leukemia’s Deadly Addiction: https://www.cshl.edu/vitamin-b6-leukemias-deadly-addiction/
Researchers Find that Vitamin B6 Contributes to Survival of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center): https://www.mskcc.org/news/researchers-find-vitamin-b6-contributes-survival-acute-myeloid-leukemia-cells
Some people have been damaged by vitamin B6 (see “B6 toxicity”). I personally have never had a problem occasionally taking P5P, the active form of B6. But I have double mutations at a B6-dependent enzyme in the AGT family.
That said, when I do take B6, if I take too much, I can get a mild electric feeling in the teeth of my left lower jaw. I believe this may have to do with the local proton gradient there. My left side is where I had Bell’s Palsy; and basal cell carcinoma; and it is also where I had mercury fillings for 30 years.
My father died of squamous cell carcinoma (a tumor at the base of the tongue) at age 57 in 1995. When he died, he had a mouth full of mercury.
Mercury is a known neurotoxin and putting it in the mouths of children is a violation of our Hippocratic oath. Even before my health crashed while living in a moldy house, I had problems with mercury. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2626812/My-silver-fillings-poisoned-badly-I-thought-I-having-stroke-44-year-old-author-reveals-poisoned-mercury-based-fillings.html
This is not a screed against mercury. I do not think mercury is “evil.” I am interested only in understanding its effects in the body as a way of working toward a more comprehensive understanding of human health.
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.” —Marie Curie
