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Posted on Feb 02, 2010, 6 a.m.
Large-scale European study finds that the risk of colorectal cancer may be reduced by as much as 40% by increasing blood levels of vitamin D.
In the latest findings to add to the growing body of studies that have established a wide range of health benefits for Vitamin D, deficiencies of which have been correlated to osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and some types of cancers, Mazda Jenab, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (France), and colleagues analyzed the incidence of colorectal cancer among the more than 520,000 participants from 10 western European countries enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer Study (EPIC). During the course of the study, 1,248 cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed, and the EPIC study data showed that blood levels of vitamin D below a mid-level of 50 to 75 nanomoles per liter were associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, while blood levels above this were not associated with any additional benefits. The team concludes that: “The results of this large observational study indicate a strong inverse association between levels of pre-diagnostic 25-(OH)D concentration and risk of colorectal cancer in western European populations.”
Mazda Jenab, H Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, Pietro Ferrari, Franzel J B van Duijnhoven, Teresa Norat, Tobias Pischon, Eugène H J M Jansen, Nadia Slimani, Graham Byrnes, Sabina Rinaldi, Anne Tjønneland, Anja Olsen, Kim Overvad, Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruault, Françoise Clavel-Chapelon, Sophie Morois, Rudolf Kaaks, Jakob Linseisen, Heiner Boeing, Manuela M Bergmann, Antonia Trichopoulou, Gesthimani Misirli, Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Franco Berrino, Paolo Vineis, Salvatore Panico, Domenico Palli, Rosario Tumino, Martine M Ros, Carla H van Gils, Petra H Peeters, Magritt Brustad, Eiliv Lund, María-José Tormo, Eva Ardanaz, Laudina Rodríguez, Maria-José Sánchez, Miren Dorronsoro, Carlos A Gonzalez, Göran Hallmans, Richard Palmqvist, Andrew Roddam, Timothy J Key, Kay-Tee Khaw, Philippe Autier, Pierre Hainaut, Elio Riboli. “Association between pre-diagnostic circulating vitamin D concentration and risk of colorectal cancer in European populations: a nested case-control study.” BMJ 2010; 340: b5500, 21 January 2010; doi: 10.1136/bmj.b5500.
