Vitamin D reduces risk of cancer: US study

Most Americans and others are not taking enough vitamin D, a fact that may put them at significant risk for developing cancer, according to a landmark study conducted by Creighton University School of Medicine, USA.

The four-year, randomized study followed 1,179 healthy, postmenopausal women from rural eastern Nebraska. Participants taking calcium, as well as a quantity of vitamin D3 nearly three times the US government's Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) for middle-age adults, showed a dramatic 60% or greater reduction in cancer risk than women who did not get the vitamin.The results of the study, conducted between 2000 and 2005, were reported in the June 8 on-line edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"The findings are very exciting. They confirm what a number of vitamin D proponents have suspected for some time but that, until now, have not been substantiated through clinical trial," said principal investigator Joan Lappe, Creighton professor of medicine and holder of the Criss/Beirne Endowed Chair in the School of Nursing. "Vitamin D is a critical tool in fighting cancer, as well as many other diseases,"she added.