WASHINGTON, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Taking B vitamins may help reduce some of the harmful effects of air pollution, a new study said Monday.

The study, led by Jia Zhong of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, showed that B vitamins such as folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 may play a critical role in reducing the impact of air pollution on a specific type of epigenetic modification called DNA methylation, which has been linked to cardiovascular disease and even cancer.

"The molecular mechanistic underpinnings of the health effects of air pollution are not fully understood, and the lack of individual-level preventative options represent a critical knowledge gap," Zhong and her colleagues wrote in their paper.

"Our study demonstrated the epigenetic effects of air pollution and suggested that B vitamins might be used as prevention to complement regulations to attenuate the impact of air pollution on the epigenome."

The study, conducted with researchers at Harvard's T. H. Chan School of Public Health, in Sweden, China, Singapore, Mexico and Canada, was published online in the U.S. journal Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers administered one placebo or B-vitamin supplement (2.5 mg of folic acid, 50 mg of vitamin B6, and 1 mg of vitamin B12) daily to each adult recruited for the trial that included 10 participants.

To take part in the intervention, volunteers were required to be healthy non-smokers, 18 to 60 years old, who were not taking any medicines or vitamin supplements.

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