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Vitamin D Could Extend Life for Cancer Patients
In a study published last week, researchers at Michigan State University demonstrate that vitamin D, taken for a minimum of three years, could help patients with cancer live longer.
According to the researchers, vitamin D significantly lowered the risk of death in patients with cancer, although there is no proof that it can protect against getting cancer.
The team reviewed data relating to disease prevention from more than 79,000 patients in multiple studies that randomly compared the use of vitamin D to placebo over at least a three-year period, focusing on information involving cancer incidence and mortality.
The difference in mortality rate between the vitamin D and placebo groups was significant enough to indicate how important it could be among the cancer population, say the researchers.
The exact amount of the vitamin that patients would have to take and what levels in the blood would be required remain unknown. Also, it is not clear by how much longer vitamin D extends lifespan or why it produces this result.
However, the results are promising enough that the researchers believe doctors, especially oncologists, should prescribe vitamin D to patients in general.
Source: Michigan State University, June 3, 2019