vitamin K - essential to human health

Can You Lower Your Risk of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma with Vitamin K?

People who eat foods higher in vitamin K, such as broccoli, have a lower risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Results of a Mayo Clinic study suggest that higher levels of vitamin K in your diet may reduce the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This type of lymphoma is the most common cancer of the blood and immune system in the United States.(42)

Scientists compared how much vitamin K was consumed by two groups for 2 years:(42)

  • One group of 603 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients before they were diagnosed.
  • A group of 1007 participants with no cancer.

Those who took in more than 108 mg/day of vitamin K had about a 45% lower risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma than those who ingested under 39 mg/day. The association of vitamin K with lower cancer risk is not definitive. However, the potential benefit remained even after adjusting for other risk factors.(42)

Interestingly, while vitamin K derived from supplements was also linked to a lower risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the highest dosages were not linked to lower risk. The Mayo researchers note that the form of vitamin K evaluated in the study was that found primarily in green leafy vegetables (vitamin K1).(42)

How might vitamin K work to help prevent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma? One of vitamin K's anticancer effects is blocking CDC25 proteins. Abnormally high levels of CDC25 are found in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Recent research suggests that regulating the production of this protein may help keep normal tissue cells stable and prevent tumors from developing. In addition, chemical compounds made with from vitamin K slow tumor growth in lab, animal, and human studies for various cancers.(79)

Funded by the National Cancer Institute.(42)
Both in the foods they ate and the supplements they took.(42)
Such as smoking, age, obesity, and lower antioxidant intake.(42)
Also known as phylloquinone.(42)
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