If you’re here then you’ve probably Google’d about: vitamin d cancer.
Abstract
Although VITAMIN D deficiency is known mainly for its association with fractures and bone disease,1–7 its newly recognized association with risk of several types of cancer is receiving considerable attention.8–11 The high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, combined with the discovery of increased risks of certain types of cancer in those who are deficient, suggest that vitamin D deficiency may account for several thousand premature deaths from colon,12 breast,13,14 ovarian,15 and prostate16 cancer annually.17 This discovery creates a new impetus for ensuring adequate vitamin D intake in order to reduce the risk of cancer.
Isolating The Effects Of Vitamin D
The body produces vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunlight. For people with known vitamin D deficiencies, supplementation is recommended to maintain bone health and prevent fractures.
“The main goal of VITAL was to see if there’s benefit to getting above the recommended dietary allowance, more than what is considered necessary for bone health,” explained JoAnn Manson, M.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who led the study. Observational studies have suggested that people who take vitamin D supplements may have a lower risk of many diseases. But “people who take vitamins may be very different in important ways from people who don’t take vitamins,” explained Dr. Kramer.
The trial’s primary endpoints—the key outcomes it measured—were the supplements’ impact on the risk of developing cancer and heart disease. Almost 26,000 participants with no history of invasive cancer or cardiovascular disease enrolled in the trial. Men had to be age 50 or older, and women age 55 or older, to enroll in the study.
About half of the participants were women, and the participants were racially diverse, with about 20% being African American.
Myth: Vitamin D Can Help Prevent All Cancers.
Y need a supplement. But you should also find out about other, proven ways to lower your odds of getting cancer.
One of the best ways is to make sure you get the cancer screenings you need when your doctor recommends them. That will raise your chances of catching any problems early o.
Cancer And Heart Disease
Speaking with Medical News Today, Vimal Karani, a professor of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics at the University of Reading, in the United Kingdom, confirmed that there has been a gap between the initial research and findings from clinical trials.
“However,” he continued, “clinical trials have not provided convincing evidence of the blood pressure-lowering effect of vitamin D supplementation.” Prof. Karani said that there could be a wide range of reasons for this, including “differences in the sample size, duration of supplementation, dose of the supplementation, age of the participants, geographical location, sun exposure, and the outcome measures.