Vitamin B Supplements Linked To Increased Lung Cancer Risk

Too much of a good thing can be really caustic. Pounding vitamins and supplements is not a good idea; according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, overdoing it with vitamin B could increase your lung cancer risk by 30 to 40 percent. As might be expected with any lung cancer concern, the risk associated with the vitamin B supplements was particularly high among smokers.

Don't worry; you can keep taking your gummy vitamins. The negative effects were exclusive to vitamin B supplements alone, not a multivitamin or an increase in vitamin-rich foods.

Vitamin B has a vital role in necessary bodily processes, such as DNA replication and red blood cell function. Vitamin B prevents anemia, boosts energy, and even helps to fight aging. For this reason, many consumers have unwittingly overloaded their bodies with the nutrient, even going so far as to invest in hefty B12 injections.

Scientists witnessed dramatic risk increases for lung cancer among men taking store-bought vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 supplements. The supplements, sold over-the-counter in most drug stores, contain more than 11 times the recommended daily intake of vitamin B6 and over 23 times that of vitamin B12.

Theodore Brasky, author of the study, claims that the prevalence of vitamin B in these pills is often even worse. "If you look at B-vitamin supplement bottles ... they are anywhere between 50-fold the U.S. recommended dietary allowance (to) upward of 2,100-fold," he said warningly. "That's marketing. That's not science."

Here's what science does tell us. Vitamins have a threshold — your body can only absorb so much at one time.

Let's imagine you're thirsty — water deficient, if you will. You want a glass of water, not a whole bathtub. But with vitamins, many of us are doing the equivalent of shoving a bathtub of water down our throats — Here you go, body! This should be good for the week! — and calling it a day.

Other forms of vitamin B such as B9, otherwise known as folate, showed no effect on lung cancer risk. The risk was found solely for B6 and B12, and was exclusive to men. Women exhibited no significant risk increase from the vitamins.

Of course, if you're trying to prevent lung cancer, the best way is to stop smoking. That decreases your risk exponentially (not to mention, makes you smell a whole lot less gross).

But it's also important to check your vitamins before you take them. Do a little research. How much of the vitamin do you actually need each day? Are you getting that vitamin already from food? Of course, no one wants a vitamin deficiency — but there are better ways to fulfill your daily needs without pounding the pills.