Milk Vitamins Could Prevent Pain Caused by Chemotherapy

Milk is considered as primary source of nutrition from infants to every age of people. It consists of a package of nutrients that are essential to every part of the body. Although, Milk consist of all the vitamins required by mammals that are essential organic compounds required in the diet. Because of milk vitamins and minerals, milk is described as nutrient dense.

Milk nutrients mimic essential role in diet and keep us healthy as well. Likewise, milk vitamins can also be used to diagnose pain caused by Chemotherapy.

However, pain in Chemotherapy can be severe. Most often, it is in the form of nerve pain. So, scientists think that a vitamin in milk may be useful for treating or preventing this nerve pain.

Marta Hamity from the University of Iowa in the US said, “Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy can both hinder continuation of treatment and persist long after treatment has ended, severely affecting the quality of life of cancer patients.”

Chemotherapies have improved cancer survival rates. But, sometimes these drugs causes debilitating side effects. In simple words, many anti-cancer drugs also called Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN) cause nerve damage and pain.

However, this study has found that the nerve pain caused during the procedure can be treated via milk vitamins.

Scientists tested the effect of Nicotinamide Riboside (NR), a form of vitamin B3, in female rats.

Those rats were been treated with breast or ovarian cancer chemotherapy- Paclitaxel. Scientists found that NR could potentially prevent CIPN in cancer patients.

Nicotinamide Riboside boosts levels of an important cell metabolite called Nicotinamide adenine Dinucleotide (NAD+).

This leads to reducing nerve pain in cancer patients. Scientists found that it also increased levels of NAD+ in the rats’ blood by about 50 percent.

Related Read: Scientists Think Cockroach Milk Could Be the Superfood of the Future

Hamity said, “Our findings support the idea that NR could potentially be used to prevent or mitigate CIPN in cancer patients, resulting in a meaningful improvement in their quality of life and the ability to sustain better and longer treatment.”