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Low vitamin B6 levels linked to DNA damage in smokers

Date: 9th December 2008, Source: Society for Experimental Biology Meeting 14th April 2003

Moderate smokers have lower levels of vitamin B6 than non-smokers and correspondingly higher levels of DNA damage.
Vitamin B6 helps provide one of the components of DNA in cells, which is why deficiency can lead to DNA damage. It's thought that such damage could set the scene for cancer to develop.

Researchers at Washington State University have carried out a new study on vitamin B6 levels among smokers and how this is affected by diet. They found that four of six healthy young people who smoked less than a pack of cigarettes a day had vitamin B6 levels that were unacceptably low. They also had a large amount of DNA damage. But this could be remedied by gradually increasing the amount of vitamin B6 in the diet.

However, a comparison with non-smokers showed that the level of vitamin B6 among smokers never reached the same level. It may be, say the researchers, that the current recommended daily allowance - 1.4 milligrams a day - of vitamin B6 is too low for smokers, and maybe for other people as well. In previous research, people with a higher intake of vitamin B6 have been shown to have a lower risk of colon, prostate, lung, gastric and pancreatic cancers.

 

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