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Nutrition, Vitamins & Supplements for Seniors
Evidence Mounts that Vitamin D Provides Powerful
Protection from Cancer
Older women in study reduced risk 60% with vitamin
D3 and calcium
 June 8, 2007 - 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. A study of older American women
found a 60% reduction in cancer risk in people taking vitamin D3 and
calcium. It is the latest in a growing list of studies finding very
significant health benefits, in particular for senior citizens, from the
"sunshine vitamin."
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on
Nutrition, Vitamins & Supplements |
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Previous studies have shown that vitamin D stops
cancer cells from dividing and enhances cancer cell death. Vitamin D
sufficiency and exposure to sunlight has also been shown to reduce the
risk of developing breast cancer.
The body produces its own vitamin D in the skin
when it is exposed to sunlight and the vitamin is also found in certain
foods, including eggs and fatty fish. Thirty minutes of sunlight
exposure for a person with light skin can produce approximately 20,000
IU of vitamin D.
This 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 U.S. governments Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) for middle-age
adults, showed a dramatic 60 percent 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 online 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, Ph.D., R.N., 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 said.
Other Creighton researchers involved in the study
included Robert Recker, M.D.; Robert Heaney, M.D.; Dianne
Travers-Gustafson, M.S.; and K. Michael Davies, Ph.D.
Research participants were all 55 years and older
and free of known cancers for at least 10 years prior to entering the
Creighton study. Subjects were randomly assigned to take daily dosages
of 1,400-1,500 mg supplemental calcium, 1,400-1,500 mg supplemental
calcium plus 1,100 IU of vitamin D3, or placebos. National Institutes of
Health funded the study.
Over the course of four years, women in the
calcium/vitamin D3 group experienced a 60 percent decrease in their
cancer risk than the group taking placebos.
On the premise that some women entered the study
with undiagnosed cancers, researchers then eliminated the first-year
results and looked at the last three years of the study. When they did
that, the results became even more dramatic with the calcium/vitamin D3
group showing a startling 77 percent cancer-risk reduction.
In the three-year analysis, there was no
statistically significant difference in cancer incidence between
participants taking placebos and those taking just calcium supplements.
Through the course of the study, 50 participants
developed nonskin cancers, including breast, colon, lung and other
cancers.
Lappe said further studies are needed to determine
whether the Creighton research results apply to other populations,
including men, women of all ages, and different ethnic groups. While the
study was open to all ethnic groups, all participants were Caucasian,
she noted.
There is a growing body of evidence that a higher
intake of vitamin D may be helpful in the prevention and treatment of
cancer, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, diabetes mellitus, multiple
sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases.
Vitamin D from Sunlight
Humans make their own vitamin D3 when they are
exposed to sunlight. In fact, only 10-15 minutes a day in a bright
summer sun creates large amounts of the vitamin, Lappe said. However,
people need to exercise caution since the suns ultraviolet B rays also
can cause skin cancer; sunscreen blocks most vitamin D production.
In addition, the latitude at which you live and
your ancestry also influence your bodys ability to convert sunlight
into vitamin D. People with dark skin have more difficulty making the
vitamin. Persons living at latitudes north of the 37th parallel Omaha
is near the 41st parallel cannot get their vitamin D naturally during
the winter months because of the suns angle.
As peope
age, the ability of the skin to convert vitamin D to its active
form decreases, so older pleople (older than age 50) are
thought to have a higher risk of developing vitamin D
deficiency.
Changing Recommended Daily Amount
Experts generally agree that the RDA for vitamin D
needs to be increased substantially, however there is debate about the
amount. RDA recommendations for vitamin D are 200 IU/d, birth-age 50;
400 IU/d, 50-70 years; and 600 IU/d, 70 years and older.
Supplements are available in two forms vitamin D2
and vitamin D3. Creighton researchers recommend vitamin D3 , because it
is more active and thus more effective in humans.
Note: Study participants came from the Nebraska
counties of Douglas, Colfax, Cuming, Dodge, Saunders, Washington, Sarpy,
Burt and Butler.
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