Deficiency of these two nutrients puts you at risk of cancer, claims new study | The Times of India

New research and studies have found that not getting enough folate and vitamins in the B group can lead to issues that are connected to cancer.

Folate is a water-soluble B vitamin that can be found in a variety of foods, such as dark-green leafy vegetables and legumes whereas Folic acid is a synthetic type of folic acid that can be found in supplements and fortified foods such as grains and cereals.

According to Pedro Carrera Bastos, a doctoral candidate and researcher in nutrition, metabolism, and inflammation at Lund University, Sweden, “A nutrient deficiency, such as folate and B group vitamins (B12, B6, B3), is one of the dietary elements involved in the initiation phase, contributing to chromosomal ruptures, DNA hypomethylation, and increased sensitivity to mutagens,”.

It is important for an individual to have enough folate in the diet to not end up with a folate deficiency. Folate or B Vitamin deficiency have a wide range of symptoms. These symptoms develop gradually but can get worsen if untreated and cause diseases as severe as cancer.

Symptoms of folate deficiency includes muscle weakness, diarrhea, reduced sense of taste, numbness, depression, fatigue, mouth sores, tongue swelling, peripheral neuropathy, shortness of breath and pale skin.

The B vitamin are a set of eight nutrients that are important for maintaining cell health and energy in the body. The symptoms of Vitamin B deficiency totally depend on the certain vitamin that an individual must be deficient in.

Some symptoms that might help you recognize the deficiency of Vitamin B are tiredness, weakness, constipation, unwanted weight loss, poor memory, loss of appetite, tongue soreness, excess hair fall.

Folate has been intensively explored as a putative cause for cancer formation due to its participation in one-carbon metabolism, a combination of mechanisms involved in the transfer and usage of one-carbon units needed for DNA and RNA production, amino acid metabolism, and methylation.