DOES VITAMIN D PREVENT CANCER?
By Dolev Reuven Gilmore
In 2019, the New England Journal of Medicine published what was called The Vital Study about vitamin D and prevention of cancer. The research group concluded, “Supplementation with vitamin D did not result in a lower incidence of invasive cancerthan placebo.” The story was dutifully reported in a horrible article in the New York Times, which basically said that vitamin D supplements are useless for anything and should be avoided.
The VITAL study followed 25,871 participants for 5.3 years, giving half of them 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day, and a placebo (fake pill) to the other half. Although less people taking vitamin D were diagnosed with or died from cancer than in the placebo group, the numbers were not considered significant.
Two years later, the same research group re-examined the data from the VITAL study, and reported some very interesting facts:
- The non-significant statistics were for total cancer diagnoses, but when only serious cases (metastases or death) were considered, there was a significant 17% reduction among those who took vitamin D.
- When excluding the first 2 years of follow-up, the rate of death from cancer was about 25% lower with vitamin D than with placebo.
- When weight and obesity were considered (body mass index above or below 25), there was a 38% reduction in serious cases and death among those with normal weight compared to the overweight participants (who also showed an 11% improvement)!
This time, the research group concluded: “In this randomized clinical trial, supplementation with vitamin D reduced the incidence of advanced (metastatic or fatal) cancer in the overall cohort, with the strongest risk reduction seen in individuals with normal weight.”
Imagine how much suffering would be avoided if these results became the basis for medical policy and recommendations.
Why didn’t the New York Times report on this? Your guess is as good as mine.
Some Questions and Thoughts
1. Why didn’t the obese group show as large an reduction in serious cancer cases when compared to the normal weight group?
Answers:
- It is well-known that obese people need more vitamin D. On a simple level, any vitamin or drug is diluted more in a person of larger volume.
- Vitamin D is fat-soluble, so some is absorbed by fat cells and therefore is unavailable for its many functions.
- It seems that 2,000 IU is not enough to prevent cancer in obese individuals. Perhaps they need 5,000 IU or more for equal cancer reduction.
2. What would have happened if 5,000 IU had been used, which is what I usually recommend? Probably, the overweight group would have had a greater reduction in cancer incidence, and those with normal weight group even more.
3. Average blood D levels increased from 29.8 ng/ml (74 nmol/L) at baseline to 41.8 ng/ml (104 nmol/L) after one year. Higher doses certainly would have raised these to more protective levels. I believe, along with other orthomolecular practitioners, that the ideal level would be at least 50 ng/ml (75 nmol/L), and probably even higher.
Conclusions
- Take enough vitamin D to get your blood level significantly above the low end of the range, to at least 50 ng/ml or 125 nmol/L.
- Depending on your baseline level, this could take 5,000 or 10,000 IU per day for 3-6 months. Follow up with regular testing and supplementation.
- Do this for yourself and for everyone you love. Extensive research shows that low vitamin D is clearly a risk factor for just about any disease you can think of.
- These amounts are very safe, as toxicity worries are greatly exaggerated. Don’t let anyone scare you. The article I wrote on this is the most read article on my website. It is in Hebrew, so here are links to some of the sources. You can see that toxicity appeared at doses and blood levels far beyond what you will achieve with the above suggestions:
- Hypercalcemia due to hypervitaminosis D: Report of Seven Patients (J of Tropical Pediatrics, 2009)
- Unusual Cases of Chronic Intoxication by Vitamin D (J of Nephrology,2003)
- Vitamin D Supplementation, 25(OH)D Concentrations, and safety (Am J of Clinical Nutrition, 1999)
- Risk Assessment for Vitamin D (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2007)
- Benefit-risk Assessment of Vitamin D Supplementation (Osteoporosis International Journal ,2010)
- Efficacy and safety of vitamin D3 exceeding the lowest adverse effect level Am J Clinical Nutrition, 2001
- Vitamin D Intake to Attain a Desired 25(OH)D Concentration (Am J of Clinical Nutrition, 2008)
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