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Subscribe to RSSVitamin D does not protect men from getting prostate cancer, but it may lessen their chances of dying of it.
In a new study, men with the highest levels of vitamin D in their blood were 57 percent less likely than men with the lowest levels to succumb to prostate cancer.
However, no link was found between vitamin D levels and having prostate cancer, the researchers said.
"Prostate cancer is a very heterogeneous disease," said study researcher Irene Shui, an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. Some tumors progress quickly, spreading to other sites in the body and causing death, while others stay within the prostate for years and never affect a man's health or life.
It remains unclear exactly why vitamin D would lower men's risk of dying from prostate cancer if it has no influence at all on the risk of developing the cancer, Shui said. It may be that vitamin D specifically influences the cancer cells' abilities to progress to later stages of the disease and spread through the body, but not the actual initiation of the cancer, she said.
Still, the study was observational, and it does not show a cause-and-effect link between vitamin D and prevention of deadly prostate cancer.
The new findings were published in online April 12 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Vitamin D and prostate cancer
"There is abundant laboratory evidence that vitamin D may have anticancer properties," Shui said. But while studies conducted on prostate cancer cells growing in lab dishes have shown that vitamin D may thwart cancer's progression, studies in people have shown that high levels of the vitamin don't lower a man's risk of getting cancer of the prostate, the gland surrounding a man's urethra.
For their study, the researchers gathered data from men who had provided blood samples between 1993 and 1995 as part an ongoing study at Harvard University. The researchers looked at 1,260 men who had developed prostate cancer by 2004, and 1,331 men who were the same age but didn't develop the disease.
By March 2011, when the study ended, 114 of the men with prostate cancer had died. When the researchers looked at these men's levels of vitamin D, they found that 31 of them were among the men with the lowest levels of vitamin D in the study, whereas only 19 of them were among the men with the highest levels of vitamin D in the study.
However, vitamin D levels made no difference in terms of developing any prostate cancer — 310 of the men with the cancer were in the group with the lowest vitamin D levels, and 333 of the men with cancer were among those with the highest levels.
So should men try to get more vitamin D?
While the results of this study need to be replicated in future research, Shui said, vitamin D has been shown to have numerous effects on health. "Men who are concerned that they may be deficient in vitamin D should speak with their physicians about taking supplements or eating more foods rich in vitamin D," she said.
The vitamin is also produced naturally by the skin when exposed to the sun. Getting about 30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. twice a week usually leads to sufficient vitamin D synthesis, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The study was limited in that most of the participants were white. "As vitamin D deficiency is even more prevalent in men of African descent, and this population also has a higher prostate cancer risk, studies conducted in men of other ethnicities would be helpful to see of our results are generalizable to those populations," Shui said.
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Been taking it for years and my PSA stays around 5.6?
It appears UVB radiation creates MUCH more than solely vitamin D3 precursors.
This is evident in regards to the treatment effect afforded by UVB exposure in MS patients.
There are apprx. 10 other compounds (identified to date) created by UVB contact on human skin. Unfortunately I can find next to zero research regarding this group of photonutrients.
The AMA's absurd position re: UV exposure has created millions of patients suffering a hundred different illnesses. Whenever possible get your vitamin D from sunlight. And always be aware that melanoma rates are highest, and still rising, only among indoor workers.
Dow Chemical is preparing a new GMO crop which will lead to widespread use of the toxic chemical, 2,4-D — one half of Agent Orange — on our crops. 2,4-D has been linked to higher rates of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, birth defects, fertility problems and Parkinson's.
I signed on to tell the USDA not to approve Dow's new GMO corn and to keep 2,4-D out of our food supply. You can sign at:
http://sumofus.org/campaigns/24-d/?sub=taf
Vitamin D helps boost the immune system and strengthens bones. The most natural form of vitamin D comes from the sun, not a pill. I would expect that higher vitamin D levels helps the person's immune system keep the cancer in check.
Justredd64, a PSA of 5.6 is elevated. Less than 4 used to be the cutoff for normal; now it is 2.5 ng/ml. Mine is 0.43 ng/ml; not too bad for a man in his 60s. Ultimately though, life is always terminal.
How in the world is this going to work? Is Big Pharma going to charge for sunshine now? I see a pill, coming soon, that will be highly absorbable and be extremely expensive!
It might be due to Warren Buffet being diagnosed with prostate cancer, that some live saving information is finally released!
The study of black men probably was done in the U.S. and not Africa. The reason for lack of vitamine D in the U.S. is due to the lack of sunshine during winter months. People with dark skin absorb less vitamine D in northern latitudes than light skinned people. In places like Africa, with bright sun year around dark complexion is the rule since dark skin will give more protection to skin cancer. This is why white people in Australia have the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. Much much higher than the native people who tend to have dark skin. In many countries of Scandanavia and in Russian Siberia people would use sun lamps to try to duplicate the sun. I do not know if the sun lamps though provided any vitamine D. The high consumption of dairy products might have helped since dairy products do carry vitamine D.
How about 'deadly' prostate cancer rather than 'deathly'? Does anyone edit these headlines?
Apparently not.
There will never be a CURE for cancer. Do you realize if there was, how many people would be out of work? Millions!!!! No more American Cancer Society, no more relays for life would be needed, no more telethons would be needed, etc. They don't want a cure for cancer because it would put them all out of a job. It's too bad since the "war on cancer" was started over 40 years ago and we still haven't "won" the war. Yes I know, so don't waste your breath.....treatments have gotten better, and prognosis are better, but c'mon...if they REALLY wanted to find a CURE for cancer they would have done it by now. 40 years and no cure? They were able to find a treatment for AIDS to make it just a chronic disease. Maybe if the ACS or scientists or the President or somebody important were affected by cancer it might speed up the process.
According to my reading, Emily Allison-Francis, nutritionist and author, vitamin D works with calcium to prevent cancer. A study conducted by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that the two nutrients together substantially reduced cancer risks.
Her book is an interesting read. For more go to www.HealthierYouNutrition.com.