Vitamin B megadoses, smokers, and lung cancer rates

[jim mcnamara]

http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2017.72.7735?journalCode=jco

For male aged 50-70 smokers taking vitamin B pills with megadose levels, rates of lung cancer increased by a factor of 30% - 40%. Females did not show the same response.

"Single" vitamin B pills: ex: Vitamin B12 only. These pills have large amounts of vitamin B relative to the daily requirement.

For me this is not a huge surprise. Megadoses of some micronutrients are prescribed for short periods of time. Then stopped. Example: Vitamin D at 3x daily value for one month may alter some EKG results positively. B vitamins are eliminated in urine, making urine a bright yellow. Excess vitamin D is not eliminated but stored.

But. In general, micronutrient megadoses often have an antinutrient effect. The most common example you will see in popular literature is vitamin C in large doses prevents absorption of copper, a required nutrient.

Megadoses of vitamins in some cases also have deleterious effects, example Vitamin D.
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

If you want more scientifically oriented information on specific micronutrient supplements this gives the whole large list:
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/list-all

 

[StandardsGuy]

Megadoses are also used to treat things. Example: http://www.livestrong.com/article/301443-how-to-treat-depression-with-therapeutic-doses-of-vitamins/
I'm not sure what your goal is here. Your "whole large list" is not oriented to showing the bad part of vitamins, but the good part.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Livestrong is a commercial site, and not necessarily reliable scientifically. I am after nothing, no specific goal. Just want to direct people to actual accepted medical/scientific data meant for non-scientists. NIH is the best source for this stuff. Livestrong may be fun, but it is like talking to your lovable Aunt Gertie who says 'I read somewhere that magnets cause cancer'.

PS: your link cites no scientific paper, nothing. We do not want that at PF, except in General Discussion. Please don't do that.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3737019 -why megadoses are bad.

 

[StandardsGuy]

Livestrong is a commercial site, and not necessarily reliable scientifically. I am after nothing, no specific goal. Just want to direct people to actual accepted medical/scientific data meant for non-scientists. NIH is the best source for this stuff. Livestrong may be fun, but it is like talking to your lovable Aunt Gertie who says 'I read somewhere that magnets cause cancer'.

PS: your link cites no scientific paper, nothing. We do not want that at PF, except in General Discussion. Please don't do that.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3737019 -why megadoses are bad.

From the abstract in the above link "There are six categories that require vitamin supplements and, in some cases, megadoses... Finally, a brief review of the potential risks and benefits of megadoses in normal, healthy adults will be given." (bolding by me).

So your own link is saying that it can be bad or good as I said above. I agree that megadoses of vitamins are a treatment just as drugs are, and can be dangerous. My link was just an example that such things exist - it was not intended as proof of anything. There are sites that show references, but I did not want to spend the time to find one.

By the way, I was only able to read the abstract from your link, making it quite useless. What does it take to be able to read the whole article?

 

[jim mcnamara]

My bad.
This is all the PUBMED site has, presumably because the article comes from the late 1980's. I chose this one because it had been cited a lot in some other papers.

PMID- 3737019
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DA - 19860917
DCOM- 19860917
LR - 20131121
IS - 0361-1817 (Print)
IS - 0361-1817 (Linking)
VI - 11
IP - 7
DP - 1986 Jul
TI - Vitamin supplementation and megadoses.
PG - 19-26, 31-6
AB - Almost one-third of American adults regularly take vitamins and supplements. If
taken incorrectly or in excess, these vitamins may be a potential health hazard.
Vitamins are essential nutrients which, in combination with other nutrients
(e.g., fats, carbohydrates and proteins), foster normal metabolism. Vitamins also
interact with each other. For example, vitamin C participates in the metabolism
of folic acid, and vitamin E facilitates the absorption and storage of vitamin A.
Because the biological functions of vitamins are interrelated, a diet poor in
vitamins, carbohydrates, fats and proteins is not necessarily enhanced by vitamin
supplementation. When vitamins are taken in excess of the Recommended Dietary
Allowances or the individual's needs, the vitamins no longer function as vitamins
but instead act as drugs, with such pharmacological effects as clinical
toxicities and the abnormal utilization of vitamins. There are six categories
that require vitamin supplements and, in some cases, megadoses. These will be
discussed in detail. In addition, a brief table showing the Recommended Dietary
Allowances will be given which the nurse practitioner can use in assessing
nutritional needs of the client so that necessary adjustments can be made.
Finally, a brief review of the potential risks and benefits of megadoses in
normal, healthy adults will be given.
FAU - Blair, K A
AU - Blair KA
LA - eng
PT - Journal Article
PL - United States
TA - Nurse Pract
JT - The Nurse practitioner
JID - 7603663
RN - 0 (Dietary Proteins)
RN - 0 (Vitamins)
RN - PQ6CK8PD0R (Ascorbic Acid)
SB - IM
SB - N
MH - Ascorbic Acid/adverse effects
MH - Body Weight
MH - Diet
MH - Dietary Proteins/administration & dosage
MH - Energy Intake
MH - Energy Metabolism
MH - Health Status
MH - Humans
MH - Nurse Practitioners
MH - Nutritional Requirements
MH - *Orthomolecular Therapy/adverse effects
MH - Risk
MH - Vitamins/adverse effects/metabolism/*therapeutic use
EDAT- 1986/07/01
MHDA- 1986/07/01 00:01
CRDT- 1986/07/01 00:00
PST - ppublish
SO - Nurse Pract. 1986 Jul;11(7):19-26, 31-6.

I'll get a better link...

 

[jim mcnamara]

When you go to pubmed, one of the features is the search language used, you can see and edit it, then rerun the search.
It is on the right side of the screen and has a text frame with a button labelled 'Search'

I do not know what you can and cannot read because medical terminology is sometimes impenetrable -- I've been working with it for years and still have to look up lots of things. Especially clinical, I'm not a physician.

Try playing with a detail search and see what looks accessible to you.
Query:

megadose[All Fields] AND ("vitamins"[Pharmacological Action] OR "vitamins"[MeSH Terms] OR "vitamins"[All Fields] OR "vitamin"[All Fields]) AND ("pathology"[Subheading] OR "pathology"[All Fields] OR "pathology"[MeSH Terms])

MeSH is a kind metadata, somewhat like the tags we have on PF.