Investigating the Effect of Dietary Methyl-Donor Intake and Other Lifestyle Factors on Cancer Patients in Hungary

Nutrition is an essential part of lifestyle and has an undeniable impact on health and disease prevention, including cancer. The incidence of cancer is increasing worldwide and in addition to inflammation related diseases, a significant number of them could be prevented by a suitable lifestyle.

Methyl-donors are part of the nutrition as micronutrients and have important roles in metabolic processes and DNA methylation through their participation in one-carbon cycles. Their appropriate level in the human body is important to stabilize a healthy metabolic balance and their deficiency can lead to several symptoms and diseases and has been also implicated in the severity of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection. Nutrition therapy has already been recognized as an appropriate tool in the management of cancer-related fatigue as part of quality of life.

Breast cancer is a heterogenous disease and classified into subtypes basically by the expression of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. The estrogen and progesterone receptor negative tumors are suggested to be more sensitive to non-hormonal factors included nutrition. Colorectal cancer has a complex etiology with risk factors of both genetic and environmental origin, including obesity and alcohol consumption. Based on the biological behaviour pancreatic cancer is an aggressive tumor with poor prognosis where risk factors also include such lifestyle factors as alcohol and smoking which cause systemic inflammation and promote tumor progression.

In this study, we aimed to explore the potential protective effect of methyl-donor intake in breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancer by following up patients. We found that around the recommended daily intake of methyl-donors (RDAs: methionine 1140mg/60kg, B6 1.3-2mg, B9 0.4mg) was effective in supporting the overall survival of breast and colorectal cancer patients. Additionally, a relatively higher amount was efficient in pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients possibly in line with the known poor absorption of vitamins in the small intestine in this type cancer. Smoking habit significantly and negatively correlated with the total intake of methyl-donors in pancreatic cancer patients, moreover, in colorectal cancer patients the folate as well as betaine intake significantly and positively correlated with IL-8 cytokine level.

Our results suggest that appropriate methyl-donor intake may be an appropriate accessory of conventional oncotherapy which may contribute to improve quality of life. Its support of cancer prevention and patients' survival needs further confirmation in large patient cohorts.