Vitamin D Protects Against Liver Cancer

Liver cancers, hepatocellular carcinoma, and other sub-types, are collectively the sixth most common cancer and third highest cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.  Vitamin D has been shown to play an important role in liver function. Veronika Fedirko, from Emory University (Georgia, USA), and colleagues analyzed data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort, involving over 520,000 participants from Western Europe. The study included 138 subjects that developed hepatocellular carcinoma between 1992 and 2010, after recruitment into the cohort. Each case was matched to a control by age, sex, study center, date and time of blood collection and fasting status. Blood vitamin D levels were measured by state-of-the-art liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. Findings indicated that higher levels of vitamin D in the body cut the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in half. The study authors write that: “In this prospective study on Western European populations, serum levels of [vitamin D] were inversely associated with risk of hepatocellular carcinoma.”