Cancer is perhaps one of the worst words you can hear. No cancer is pleasant. However, hearing that your cancer is in an advanced stage is sure to strike you deeply. We know that there are things you can do to keep yourself healthy, and ways to reduce the risk of certain cancers. For instance, not smoking helps reduce your risk of lung, throat, and mouth cancer. However, a new study shows that vitamin D may have an impact on cancer as well. Excitingly, it suggests that taking vitamin D may reduce your risk of developing advanced cancer.
Effect of Vitamin D3 Supplements on Development of Advanced Cancer
That is the title of the study, published November 18th, 2020, as a collaboration between Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Their question?: “Does vitamin D3 supplementation reduce the risk of developing advanced (metastatic or fatal) cancer among adults without a diagnosis of cancer at baseline?” (1)
The Clinical Trial
The method the researchers used was a VITAL randomized clinical trial. “VITAL,” they explain, “is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2 × 2 factorial clinical trial of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol, 2000 IU/d) and marine omega-3 fatty acids (1 g/d).”
The participants they chose were men who were 50 or older, and women who were 55 or older. Additionally, all participants had to be free of cancer or heart disease at the start of the trial. After this, they ended up with 25,871 trial participants. (1)
The Results
During the study, “1617 [participants] were diagnosed with invasive cancer over a median intervention period of 5.3 years.” Those trial patients who received the vitamin D had a much lower rate of advanced cancers than those taking the placebo.
However, there are caveats to this research. Unfortunately, the positive effects of vitamin D were only seen in people with a ‘normal’ BMI, and not those individuals classified as overweight or obese. (1)
What Does This Mean For Treatment Of Advanced Cancers?
Dr. Paulette Chandler is one of the study’s authors. She is also a primary care physician and epidemiologist in the Brigham And Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Chandler sees this as an absolute win. “Vitamin D is a supplement that’s readily available,” she says. It’s also “cheap and has been used and studied for decades.” That makes it easy for most people to get their hands on.
“Our findings, along with results from previous studies, support the ongoing evaluation of vitamin D supplementation for preventing metastatic cancer,” she says. It’s “a connection that is biologically plausible.” (2)
Further Information About Vitamin D And Advanced Cancers
In 2011, a study was presented at the 53rd annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology. It said vitamin D deficiency in cancer patients is very common. The article summary says that “More than three-quarters of cancer patients have insufficient levels of vitamin D and the lowest levels are associated with more advanced cancer.”
“The benefits of vitamin D outside of improving bone health are controversial,” says Thomas Churilla, one of the study’s authors. “Yet, there are various levels of evidence to support that vitamin D has a role in either the prevention or the prediction of outcome of cancer.” (3)
