Vitamin D helps prevent pancreatic cancer
Another week passes,; another study on the benefit of vitamin D with cancer.
This time research from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, Australia showed people exposed to natural sunlight had half the risk of pancreatic cancer than those receiving no sunlight.
The research was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Pancreatic Cancer Conference in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
Dr. Rachel Neale, Ph.D and her colleagues conducted a case-control study in which 704 patients with pancreatic cancer, and 709 healthy individuals with no history of pancreatic cancer, were evaluated based on blood serum levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D, the hormonal marker of vitamin D in the body. They then used NASA’s Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer to work out the UV exposure since birth of the individual. Those who lived in the highest sunshine areas had 24 per cent less risk of pancreatic cancer those in low areas.
People with the most sun-sensitive skin (for example, lighter-skinned people) had approx 50 per cent less cancer risk. And overall there was a direct correlation between vitamin D levels and lowered pancreatic cancer risk.
"High levels of vitamin D are associated with a lower risk of pancreatic cancer based on both observational studies of individuals and geographic studies of populations," writes the Vitamin D Council on their website. "Based on studies of breast, colon, and rectal cancer, vitamin D levels above 40 ng/mL (100 nmol/L) reduce the risk of cancer. Thus, maintaining vitamin D blood levels above 40 ng/mL may reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer."
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