by Justin Lee

Created on: February 25, 2009

Vitamin D protects against Breast Cancer & curbs tumor progression

Vitamin D's major biological function is to help the body maintain normal blood calcium and phosphorous levels; it increases bones' ability to absorb calcium and improves bone strength. In addition to this role in bone health, however, recent research suggests that vitamin D may also play a significant role in reducing risk for breast cancer and curbing tumor progression.

Vitamin D Protects Against Breast Cancer.

In a study published in the December 2005 issue of the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) reported a strong link between vitamin D deficiency and higher rates of colon cancer. Two months later, in an article published in the American Journal of Public Health, the same researchers linked vitamin D deficiency to heightened ovarian and breast cancer risks as well. The UCSD researchers followed 120,000 women participating in two studies at Harvard University and Saint George's Hospital Medical School in London, and based on the data they collected from the patients' blood samples and medical history, they concluded that women with high blood levels of vitamin D had a 50% reduced risk of breast cancer.

In 2008, several follow-up studies confirmed these initial results by illustrating an association between deficiency in exposure to sunlight (specifically, ultraviolet B (UVB) light) and breast cancer. Vitamin is not commonly found in foods (e.g., only in foods like eggs, fish, fortified milk, and cod liver oil), and the majority of human vitamin D levels are naturally generated in response to sunlight exposure. Standardizing their statistics for factors such as age and geographic conditions, the researches found that people living in more extreme latitudes had lower serum levels of vitamin D and higher incidence rates for breast cancer. Conversely, higher serum levels of vitamin D were associated with reduced incidence rates of breast cancer worldwide.

Vitaman D Curbs Tumor Progression.

In addition to reducing one's risk of developing breast cancer, vitamin D might also curb tumor progression in patients who already have the disease. Recent studies have shown that women with breast cancer who have vitamin D deficiencies at the time of diagnosis are more likely to die from their disease or to have multiple recurrences; newly diagnosed breast cancer patients with the lowest levels of vitamin D had nearly twice the

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