Health & Fitness - Vitamin D improves colon cancer survival

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Vitamin D improves colon cancer survival

BOSTON (UPI) -- Colon cancer patients with abundant vitamin D in their blood were 48 percent less likely to die, U.S. researchers said.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found these patients had a 39 percent less chance of dying from colon cancer. However, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston said it is too early to recommend supplements as part of cancer treatment.

"Our data suggest that higher pre-diagnosis plasma levels of (vitamin D) after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer may significantly improve overall survival," the study authors said in a statement.

Study leaders Dr. Kimmie Ng and Dr. Charles Fuchs identified 304 colorectal cancer patients whose vitamin D levels were measured in blood samples given at least two years prior to their diagnosis.

By 2005, 123 patients had died -- 96 from colorectal cancer. Those whose vitamin D levels put them in the top quarter were compared to the quarter having the least amount of vitamin D. Individuals with the vitamin D levels in the highest quartile were 48 percent less likely to die -- from any cause -- than those with the lowest vitamin D. The odds of dying from colon cancer were 39 percent lower.

The findings are published in the Journal of Oncology.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 06/19/2008

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