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We know that 2-3,000 units of vitamin D per day can increase our defenses against various diseases, so it can also have an immunostimulatory effect against coronavirus, and it has long been known that it can also play an important role in the fight against cancer. A clinical study has shown that regular intake of vitamin D reduces the risk of metastatic and fatal cancer by 17 percent. The protective effect is even greater, at 38 percent among those with a normal body mass index.
The surprising link between vitamin D and cancer has been of concern to researchers for many years. Epidemiological studies have shown that people living near the equator, who produce more vitamin D due to exposure to a lot of sunlight, are less likely than average to be victims of certain types of cancer. Vitamin D has also been shown to slow cancer progression in cell culture experiments and mouse animal models. However, randomized clinical trials in humans so far have not provided a clear answer on the association between vitamin D and cancer.
A clinical study called the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL), completed in 2018, found that while vitamin D did not reduce the overall incidence of cancer, it did appear to reduce the risk of death from cancer.
Now a research team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston, USA) has re-extracted VITAL data sets to take a closer look at the link between the consumption of dietary supplements containing vitamin D and metastatic cancer and / or fatal.
Their analysis, published in the JAMA Network Open journal, suggests that increased vitamin D intake is statistically associated with a 17 percent reduction in the risk of advanced cancer.
And if they specifically targeted only participants with a normal body mass index, their risk reduction was 38 percent, suggesting that body weight may influence the association between vitamin D and advanced cancer risk reduction. .
Our results suggest that vitamin D may reduce the risk of advanced cancer Paulette Chandler, a general practitioner in the Brigham Department of Preventive Medicine and author of the paper, summarized. – Vitamin D is an inexpensive and easily accessible dietary supplement that has been widely used and researched for decades. The correlations that we have discovered, particularly with respect to the significant reduction in risk among people of normal weight, provide important new information on the relationship between vitamin D and advanced cancer. “
Strict investigation
The VITAL study was a placebo-controlled study using a rigorous methodology that lasted more than 5 years. The study population consisted of men at least 50 years of age and women at least 55 years of age, all of whom were cancer-free at the start of the study. The participants had diverse ethnic origins. The VITAL study is designed to explore the independent effects of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid supplements and to identify any positive interactions between them. Participants were randomly divided into three groups: the first group received 2,000 IU of vitamin D and omega-3s per day, the second group received vitamin D and placebo, and the third group received placebo instead of both. Circulatory pathogenesis and tumor formation were identified as primary endpoints of the study.
In the VITAL study, no statistical differences were found in the overall incidence of tumors, however Cancer mortality was found to be significantly lower in the vitamin D groups.
The role of the body mass index
In their secondary analysis, Chandler and colleagues attempted to trace possible causes of the observed reduction in mortality and thus collected cases of metastatic and / or fatal cancer in the vitamin D supplement and non-vitamin supplement groups. The possible modifying effect of the body mass index was also considered.
Of the more than 25,000 participants in VITAL, 1,617 were diagnosed with malignancy during the five-year period of the study. The sample included a wide variety of cancers: breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon and rectal cancer, lung cancer, and many other types of cancer. Of the more than 13,000 participants taking vitamin D, 226 were diagnosed with advanced cancer; the same number was 274 in the placebo group. When 7843 participants with a normal body mass index (less than 25) were excluded, only 58 of those who took vitamin D developed advanced cancer, compared with 96 of those who took placebo.
Although it is not statistically possible that the association with body mass index can be attributed to chance alone, there is evidence in the previous literature that body weight influences the effect of vitamin D. Obesity and the associated inflammatory condition may decrease the efficacy of vitamin D, presumably through a decreased sensitivity of the vitamin D receptor or by influencing its signaling pathway. In addition, randomized studies with vitamin D in type 2 diabetes have shown that the vitamin provides greater benefits to people of normal weight, and no benefit has been shown in obese people.
Vitamin D deficiency is common among cancer patients: we also found a study that puts the incidence of vitamin D deficiency among cancer patients at 72%.
Higher amounts of body fat have also been shown to increase the risk of some tumors. “Our results, along with similar conclusions from previous studies, provide a basis for future research on the potential role of vitamin D supplementation in the prevention of metastatic cancer, as the relationship appears to make biological sense,” Chandler noted. “There is an urgent need for more research in cancer patients and for further clarification of the role of the body mass index.”
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