Daily dose of vitamin D cuts colon cancer risk: study (1)

Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21122005/323/daily-dose-vitamin-d-cuts-colon-cancer-risk-study.html

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The risk of colon cancer can be slashed by 50 percent by taking a daily supplement of vitamin D, researchers at a California cancer institute said.

Scientists at the Moores Cancer Center of the University of California at San Diego said their studies showed that taking 1,000 international units, or 25 micrograms, of vitamin D every day would sharply reduce the chance of a person getting colon cancer, which is diagnosed in about 145,000 Americans each year.

According to UCSD professor and cancer epidemiologist Edward Gorham, the preventative link between vitamin D and colon cancer has been known for over two decades.

But scientists did not know the specific amount of the vitamin needed to have a clear impact.

Their study “establishes the target level of vitamin D that could reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer by half,” Gorham said.

“Preventing approximately half of colorectal cancer incidence by a program that would ensure vitamin D adequacy could save an estimated 20 billion dollars per year,” he said.

“Annual supplementation of all Americans with 1,000 international units per day of vitamin D would cost about $5 billion.”

Such a program could prevent possibly 28,000 deaths each year, according to the study’s results.

The study, which has just been published in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, was based on a review of 18 scientific papers dealing with vitamin D and colon cancer.