Couldn't find what you looking for?

TRY OUR SEARCH!

Vitamin D Has The Potential To Increase Survival Rates In Breast Cancer Patients

by — Last updated: 2014-05-22 in Cancer

Table of Contents

Vitamin D is essential for normal work of our body. It is important for sustaining the health of our bones and immune system. Resent findings suggest that vitamin D supplementation can help in preventing and treating various cancers.

With strong evidences to prove the potential anti-cancer and cancer-preventive effects of vitamin D, researchers have explored the vitamin in recent years to bring about the best out of it in cancer management.

Many studies have proven that breast cancer risk is higher in areas of northern latitudes where sunlight and consequent vitamin D synthesis are less than normal. This relationship between breast cancer and sunlight supports the role of vitamin D in cancer prevention.

A recent study reports that low vitamin D levels in breast cancer patients were associated with low survival rates of those patients. The researchers of the University of California reported that breast cancer patients with high levels of vitamin D in their serum have twice the survival rate when compared to those patients who have low levels of the vitamin. Though further studies are still needed to fully confirm these findings, they support the view that vitamin D in safe recommended dosages has to be added as a part of therapy in breast cancer treatment. Researchers urge that measuring the levels of vitamin D in a breast cancer patient at the time of diagnosis would help to control early cancer by supplementing vitamin D in that patient.

Vitamin D has potential anti-cancer and cancer-preventive effect on many other cancers

Several studies with regards to the beneficial effects of vitamin D on various cancers have been performed. Animal studies conducted on mice reported that administration of vitamin D3 can inhibit tumor growth in early stages of prostate cancer while at later stages it is not that effective.

Observational studies showed that the incidence of colorectal cancer can be reduced to half if the daily intake of vitamin D was increased to 1000 IU.

See Also: Vitamin D And Bone Health

Though most of the studies support the use of this vitamin as a supplementary therapy in cancer prevention and treatment, the clinical results are often inconsistent. At present, the recommended daily dose of vitamin D for adults is 600 IU which comes to 15 micrograms per day. For elderly people over 70 years, the dose recommended is 800 IU (20 micrograms). Though vitamin D is an essential micro-nutrient, very high doses may result in an unwanted increase in serum calcium levels which is also detrimental. Researchers understand the complexity of this issue and suggest performing trials to analyze the beneficial effects of other forms of vitamin D (Vitamin D analogs) which may very well have anti-cancer and cancer-preventive effects without producing the undesirable effects.

  • Holick MF. Sunlight and vitamin D for bone health and prevention of autoimmune diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 December, 80(6): 1678S-1688S
  • Norman AW. Intestinal calcium absorption: a vitamin D-hormone-mediated adaptive response. Am J Clin Nutr. 1990 Feb, 51(2):290-300
  • Deeb KK, Trump DL, Johnson CS. Vitamin D signalling pathways in cancer: potential for anticancer therapeutics. Nat Rev Cancer. 2007 Sep, 7(9):684-700
  • Bertone-Johnson ER. Vitamin D and Breast Cancer. Ann Epidemiol. 2009 July, 19(7):462-7
  • Mohr SB, Gorham ED, Kim J, et al. Meta-analysis of Vitamin D sufficiency for improving survival of patients with Breast Cancer. Anticancer Res. 2014 Mar, 34(3):1163-6
  • Petrosky WB, Ouyang X, Gao H et al. Vitamin D Inhibits the Formation of Prostatic Intraepithel neoplasia in Nkx3.1
  • Pten Mutant Mice. Clin Cancer Res. 2006 Oct 1, 12(10):5895
  • Gorham ED, Garland CF, Garland FC et al. Vitamin D and prevention of colorectal cancer. J Steroid Biochemistry Mol Biol. 2005 October, 97(1-2): 179-94.
  • Photo courtesy of techny by FreeImages : www.freeimages.com/photo/212689
  • Photo courtesy of Charlotte by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/charlottemorrall/3796014241