(I certainly do not want to cause anyone to worry, and admins please delete if necessary.)
I received this email from ForefrontHealth which advertises their products and was rather concerned about their statement about B9 and B12
Therapeutic Complex of Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, & B7
There are a couple of things that separate our Vitamin B Thyroid Complex from all others. First, we use only specific B-Vitamins that are essential to your thyroid health. And we specifically don’t use Vitamin B9 and B12, as studies show supplementation increases the risk of cancer (mainly lung cancer). Second, most widely available B-Vitamin supplements also contain cheap and ineffective vitamins, very low (non-therapeutic) dosages, and potentially harmful excipients. For example, most B-Vitamin capsules contain toxic “nanoparticles” like titanium dioxide. Titanium dioxide is a known neurotoxin that has been shown to cause diabetes and block nutrient absorption. That’s not what you want from any supplement. Instead, we’ve designed our Vitamin B Thyroid Complex to be optimized for your thyroid health, while also making it 100% safe. Contains 2 fl. oz. / 60 ml (60 daily doses) of pure, clean, Vitamin B Complex, optimized for your thyroid health.Other ingredients include water and a 10% alcohol solution
They have a "Ask a question section" so I wrote,
:
Hi I am rather concerned about you saying, " we specifically don't use Vitamin B9 and B12, as studies show supplementation increases the risk of cancer (mainly lung cancer)."
I thought it was the folic acid that was the problem and Folate was O.K. to use. Also what about the people who have a vitamin B12 deficiency and they have to use it, plus some Hypothyroid people are low in B12 and often supplement with it.
Could you please advise.
Thank you.
01/20/2020
They replied,
A: Multiple studies have now linked supplementation of both B9 and B12 to certain types of cancer.
As for a Vitamin B12 deficiency, there are many things that can be involved and we generally aim to correct the underlying problem rather than simply the band-aid approach of taking large amounts of B12 in hopes to bring levels up.
For example, if digestion is compromised, then that can affect B12 absorption from food. In general, you don't B12 to last long periods of time. So, ensuring that one's diet contains adequate B12 at each meal can play a role as well. There are also other conditions that can affect B12 absorption, however, it's important to investigate and address those conditions accordingly.
What do members think of this ?
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lucylocks
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I can see they might assess it as not being essential to your thyroid health but rather odd simply to ignore it.
I am not happy with them saying that B9 and B12 increase the risk of cancer. Yes, there have been some papers which raise concerns but I don’t think any of them have proved causality.
Also, bear in mind that pregnant women are expressly encouraged to ensure adequate folate intake (albeit usually as folic acid) and failure to achieve adequate levels can have consequences for the foetus. Is it right to propagate fear of cancer?
But they include alcohol (ethanol) as an ingredient while that is widely regarded as carcinogenic. It is also advised against in pregnancy (who knows whether people taking this supplement are pregnant or not?).
They ignore your point about folate vs folic acid, rather than clearly answer.
Initially it looks scary but if you read it to the end you realise that the headline grabber may not be right:
‘The real headline of this study should be that smoking increases the risk of lung cancer -- the study found that a total of 94% of the subjects who developed lung cancer were either current or former smokers," CRN Vice President for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Andrew Shao, PhD, says in a news release’ and in the final paragraph the same person states that folic acid and B12 probably don’t cause cancer.
I haven’t read the actual results of the study but, if this article is to be believed, then there may have been correlation but not a causal link.
Yes, it would be interesting to see if this is the study to which they are referring. If so, it strikes me as incredibly irresponsible to refer to the headlines of a report and not take into account the details and conclusion and then to unnecessarily scare people who may genuinely need B12 and folic acid! I know if I don’t take both those vitamins I become very ill, and the risks of being deficient in either are known. I’m not a scientist or doctor but I do have a reasonable level of intelligence and do research and I’ve never found anything else that states that B12 or folic acid supplementation is risky.
A: Multiple studies have now linked supplementation of both B9 and B12 to certain types of cancer.
If I were you, I'd be asking for detailed information about the studies they refer to.
we generally aim to correct the underlying problem rather than simply the band-aid approach of taking large amounts of B12 in hopes to bring levels up.
In which case, why are they making and selling any supplements at all - surely what applies to B12 can be applied to other vitamins/minerals!
Just two readily found papers. Not for one minute do I claim there are no papers pointing a finger towards folate and B12, but so far, no causal link that I have found.
When you read any study you have to investigate the author of same. Example is an article I read in a Take off Pounds Sensibly magazine promoting the use of large amounts of olive oil on a daily basis because it was so good for us. Turned out the author was being paid by the olive industry. With so many people embracing a plant based diet, the meat industry is freaking out right now. One thing they can say is B12 isnt found in plants. I bet this study was paid for by the meat and dairy industry. Remember “there is lies, damn lies and statistics”. 🙂
Don't know how why I get them either, I think I must have subscribed at sometime, maybe I read an article about thyroid and did it then.
Going to unsubscribe now.
Should be a unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email if you want to do the same.
"What do members think of this ?"
Not a lot is the consensus so far
Are they a British based company, or have an office in the UK? If so I wonder if there are grounds for reporting them to the Trades Description people or something.
Just searched for "forefront Health, a scam?" and found this. May not be an actual scam but definitely dodgy.
.Also here's one of their pages. I don't know enough to be able to say definitely dodgy, but it seems a weird mix of reasonably good science and confabulation.
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