Vitamin K may help keep non-hodgkin lymphoma at bay

Washington, Apr 20 (ANI): People who have higher intakes of vitamin K from their diet have a lower risk of developing Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a new study has found.

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system.

At the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Minnesota report that the risk of developing Non-Hodgkin lymphoma was approximately 45 percent lower for participants who had vitamin K intakes in the top quartile of intake in the study, compared to participants who had intakes in the bottom quartile. This association remained after accounting for other factors such as age, sex, education, obesity, smoking, alcohol use and intake of foods with high amounts of antioxidants.

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin and is derived from either plants (phylloquinone or vitamin K1) or bacterial synthesis.

"These results are provocative, since they are the first work we have done on the connection between vitamin K and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and this is a fairly strong protective effect," says the study's lead investigator, James Cerhan, M.D., Ph.D., a cancer epidemiologist. "However, as with all new findings, this will need to be replicated in other studies." (ANI)