Having cancer, should not take vitamin B12

Mr. Phung Van Thanh (65 years old, Hanoi) has had surgery for stomach cancer, who is pale because of anemia. The children bought Chibro B12 medicine for him to use for the purpose of adding blood, but the doctor near the house told him that the drug was not beneficial to cancer patients.

Vitamin B12 is abundant in eggs, meat, milk (Photo: nlm.nih.gov) Vitamin B12 is also called vitamin L2 with many different trade names, among them Chibro B12 of France. It is present in some animal-derived foods.

Lack of vitamin B12 will cause blood dysfunction in the bone marrow, leading to giant intracellular anemia (biermer) because the red blood cells are not mature. It is absorbed through food thanks to an intrinsic anti-anemia factor in the gastric ulcer. Without this factor, vitamin B12 will be eliminated; therefore, in treatment, vitamin B12 is often used as an injection. This substance is often indicated for use in pernicious anemia (biermer), anemia after gastric resection, anemia due to hookworm and neurodegenerative pain.

Vitamin B12 works well for many patients because it helps the division and regeneration of cell organization, strong protein synthesis and lipid metabolism. It participates in the synthesis of thymidylate - a component in DNA, which provides materials for DNA synthesis, contributing to cell division in the body. But for people with cancer this is not beneficial. Malignant tumors have biochemical manifestations of an organization that are thriving, increasing small molecular weight proteins, increasing DNA, RNA and cell division. Meanwhile, vitamin B12 promotes this process.

For this reason, doctors recommend not taking vitamin B12 for cancer patients, as it can speed up the development of disease cells, making tumors grow fast. In addition, vitamin B12 is contraindicated (ie not used) for acne patients, a history of drug allergy or anemia of unknown origin.

Doctor Vu Huong Van , Health & Life