Consuming high amounts of vitamin K may reduce the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), according to a new study.
It included 603 newly diagnosed patients and 1 007 cancer-free people. The researchers found that the risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was about 45% lower for people whose vitamin K consumption was in the top quarter, compared to those in the bottom quarter, United Press International reported.
Vitamin K is found in green leafy vegetables. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system.
"These results are provocative, since they are the first work we have done on the connection between vitamin K and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and this is a fairly strong protective effect," lead investigator Dr. James Cerhan, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said in a news release, UPI reported. "However, as with all new findings, this will need to be replicated in other studies."
The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. - (Eurekalert, April 2010)
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