Vitamin D Appears to Cut Risk of Pancreatic Cancer

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Reuters

Thursday, September 14, 2006; Page A02 Washington Post

People who take the recommended daily amount of Vitamin D are about half as likely to get deadly pancreatic cancer as people who do not, researchers said yesterday. Now they are checking to see if getting the vitamin from food or sunlight also cuts the risk.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the United States. This year, an estimated 32,000 new cases will be diagnosed, and only 5 percent of its victims will survive more than five years.

Working with colleagues at Harvard University, a team led by Halcyon Skinner of Northwestern University examined data from two large, long-term health surveys involving 46,771 men 40 to 75 years old and 75,427 women 38 to 65.

They found that people who took the U.S. recommended daily allowance of Vitamin D, 400 international units (IU), had a 43 percent lower risk of pancreatic cancer. Those who took less than 150 IU per day had a 22 percent reduced risk.

Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, the researchers said taking more than 400 IU a day did not reduce the risk further.

Vitamin D is produced by the body when sunlight hits the skin, but most Americans do not get enough sunlight to produce the needed amount. Milk, both dairy and soy, is fortified with the vitamin. Some foods, including fish, eggs and liver, also contain Vitamin D.