Vitamin D Deficiency Tied to Increased Cancer Risk

NEW YORK JAN 09, 2006 (Reuters Health) - Correcting vitamin D deficiency could significantly lower the risk of several types of cancer, investigators report. "The cost of a daily dose of vitamin D3 (1000 IU) is less than 5 cents, which could be balanced against the high human and economic costs of treating cancer attributable to insufficiency of vitamin D," they point out.

"Vitamin D and its metabolites reduce the incidence of many types of cancer by inhibiting tumor angiogenesis, stimulating mutual adherence of cells, and enhancing intercellular communication through gap junctions, thereby strengthening the inhibition of proliferation that results from tight physical contact with adjacent cells within a tissue," Dr. Cedric F. Garland note in their article, published in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Dr. Garland, from the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, and his colleagues performed a PubMed search that identified 63 observational studies regarding vitamin D and its association with cancers of the colon, breast, prostate and ovary.

Twenty of 30 studies of colon cancer or adenomatous polyps found a statistically significant benefit of vitamin D.  Similar results were observed for 9 of 13 studies concerning breast cancer risk, 13 of 16 studies concerning prostate cancer risk, and 5 of 7 studies concerning ovarian cancer.

The authors recommend supplementing the diet with 800 to 1000 IU vitamin D per day, which "would be consistent with maintaining the serum 25(OH)D level at or above 30 ng/mL in most individuals."  They believe that dosages up to 1000 IU per day would not produce toxicity.

SOURCE:

• Am J Public Health 2006;96.