Vitamin D Found to Help Predict Overall Cell Health

by | Jul 18, 2008 | 2008, Vitamin D - Cancer, Vitamin D - General, Vitamins

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. In a study of 3300 patients in a health study, the group with the highest blood levels had a 55% lower risk of all forms of cancer compared to the group with the lowest blood levels.

As a whole, cancer is the #1 killer of Americans, passing heart disease in 2005 (1). According to the National Cancer Institute, nearly 1.5 million men and women (52% men 48% women) will be diagnosed with cancer and result in an estimated 565,650 deaths in 2008 (2). The American Cancer Society estimates that cancer costs our healthcare system $218 billion each year (3).

In the study, researchers analyzed the blood samples of nearly 3,300 patients from The Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Health (LURIC) study (4). They found that higher [blood levels of vitamin D] were associated with “significantly reduced risk” for fatal cancer. Specifically, after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, smoke habits, vitamin A blood levels, exercise habits, beer and wine consumption and diabetes mellitus, those with the highest blood levels of vitamin D (more than 57.5 nanomoles per Liter) had a 55% reduced risk of all forms of cancer compared to those with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D (less than 25.5 nanomoles per Liter).

For the researchers, “our data suggest that low [blood levels of vitamin D] are associated with increased risk of fatal cancer…and that the maintenance of a sufficient vitamin D status might therefore be a promising approach for the prevention and/or treatment of cancer.”

Source: Pilz, Stefan, Harald Dobnig, Brigitte Winklhofer-Roob, Gunter Riedmüller, Joachim E. Fischer, Ursula Seelhorst, Britta Wellnitz, Bernhard O. Boehm, and Winfried März. “Low serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D predict fatal cancer in patients referred to coronary angiography.” Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Biomarkers 17, no. 5 (2008): 1228-1233.

© 2008 American Association for Cancer Research

Posted July 17, 2008.

References:

  1. “Cancer passes heart disease as top killer” posted on the New York Times website.
  2. “Incidence and Mortality” posted on the National Cancer Institute website.
  3. “Costs of Cancer” posted on the American Cancer Society website.
  4. Winkelmann BR, März W, Boehm BO, et al. Rationale and design of the LURIC study: a resource for functional genomics, pharmacogenomics and long-term prognosis of cardiovascular disease. Pharmacogenomics 2001;2:1–73.