葉酸と世界保健の総括レビューシリーズ,第2部:がんに関する要約

Samantha Yoo¹, Azita Montazeri¹, Derrick Bennett²

¹School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Canada.

Journal of global health

|February 20, 2026

まとめ

このレビューでは,葉酸の状態と様々な癌,特に食道癌と結腸癌を関連付ける示唆的な証拠が見つかりました. これらの関連性を確認し,葉酸を理解するために,さらなる研究が必要です.

科学分野:

栄養上の腫瘍学について
癌疫学がん疫学について
システマティック・レビューとメタ分析

背景:

葉酸は,DNA合成,RNA合成,メチル化,ゲノム整合性において極めて重要であり,がん発生に関連している.
葉酸の状態と癌のリスクに関する既存の証拠は矛盾しており,高用量サプリメントからの欠乏と有害性の潜在的なリスクがあります.

研究の目的:

葉酸の状態とがんリスクとの関連に関する証拠を体系的にレビューし,合成する.
既定の基準を用いて,特定された協会の信頼性を評価する.

主な方法:

2024年2月まで複数のデータベース (MEDLINE,Embase,CINAHL,Cochrane Library,DARE) で包括的な検索を行った.
葉酸 (食事,サプリメント,血中濃度) と癌のアウトカムを調査したシステマティック・レビューとメタ分析が含まれています.
重複スクリーニング,データ抽出,バイアスのリスク評価を行い,証拠の信頼性が評価されました.

主要な成果:

57のメタ分析を含む67の合成が特定され,半分以上がバイアスのリスクが高い.
10種類のがん,3種類の全身がん,全身がんの168のユニークな関連が抽出されました.
15の関連性 (大腸がん,食道がん,全身がん) が高度に示唆的な信頼性レベルで,27の関連性は示唆的なレベルで見つかりました.

結論:

葉酸の状態と癌のリスクとの間の非常に示唆的な関連性は,食道,大腸,幼児の脳および脊髄腫瘍,および全身がんにおいて観察されました.
前立腺がんの証拠は,報告された陽性関係信号のためにさらなる調査を正当化します.
全体的な証拠は限られ,大腸直腸,食道,小児の中枢神経系がんを除くほとんどの関連性に対する支持は弱かった.

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