Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States today. Experts are encouraging people to do everything that they can to try to prevent cancer. Now, researchers are saying that vitamin B should be a part of your prevention plan.

The New York Times reports on reducing cancer risk.

Experts report that vitamin B is particularly helpful with preventing many types of skin cancers.

How was the study conducted?

Researchers conducted a clinical trial where participants were given two vitamin B pills every day as a nutritional supplement.

What were the results?

The people who took the pills had a twenty-three percent lower chance of developing melanoma skin cancer.

Members of the American Cancer Society are proponents of this study. Dr. Damian, of the American Cancer Society of Clinical Oncology, led the study and said, “It’s safe, it’s almost obscenely inexpensive and its widely available.”

Researchers are saying that people prone to melanoma should get started on this regimen right away. Abstracts of nearly 5,000 studies will be presented at the oncology conference in Chicago at the end of this month.

 CBS news also reported on the new study. Experts are putting extra emphasis on the fact that the vitamin is extremely economical, therefore it is something everyone can use to try to prevent skin cancer.

 How does vitamin B help prevent skin cancer?

The sun’s ultraviolet rays damage the DNA of skin cells. Vitamin B gives skin cells an energy boost.

The two most common forms of the disease, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, can usually be treated successfully according to most doctors. CBS report, “The most dangerous type, melanoma, occurs in about 73,000 people in the U.S. each year and kills more than 9,900.”

The experts plan to conduct more trial runs to see if the vitamin can be helpful for everyone in reducing skin cancer risk.

One patient CBS interviewed had been diagnosed with cancer many times. She said she has had some cancer on the top of her head, a few on the back of her head, and one behind each ear even though she tries to stay out of the sun. Wiese had leukemia as a teenager and underwent radiation therapy, which put her at high risk for skin cancer later in life and thinks that the vitamin study gives people like her hope.

Gerry Oginski
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NY Medical Malpractice & Personal Injury Trial Lawyer
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