(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Vitamins and calcium supplements taken over time
may reduce the risk of breast cancer.
"It is not an immediate effect," Jaime Matta, Ph.D., professor at the Ponce
School of Medicine in Puerto Rico, was quoted as saying. "You don't take a
vitamin today and your breast cancer risk is reduced tomorrow. However, we did
see a long-term effect in terms of breast cancer reduction."
Matta said the findings suggested that the calcium supplements are acting to
enhance DNA repair capacity, a complex biological process involving more than
200 proteins which, if disrupted, can lead to cancer.
"This process involves at least five separate pathways and is critical for
maintaining genomic stability," said Matta. "When the DNA is not repaired, it
leads to mutation that leads to cancer."
The researchers studied 268 women with breast cancer and 457 healthy controls.
Women were more likely to have breast cancer if they were older, had a family
history of breast cancer, had no history of breastfeeding and had lower DNA
repair capacity.
Vitamin supplements appeared to reduce the risk of breast cancer by about 30
percent. Calcium supplements reduced the risk of breast cancer by 40 percent.
After controlling for the level of DNA repair capacity, calcium supplements were
no longer as protective, but the link between vitamin supplements and breast
cancer reduction remained.
"We're not talking about mega doses of these vitamins and calcium supplements,”
said Matta, “so this is definitely one way to reduce risk."
SOURCE: Presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., April 18, 2010
