I sometimes wonder where all this research is going!

BBC NEWS | Health | Vitamin D 'slashes cancer risk': "
Last Updated: Friday, 15 September 2006, 23:17 GMT 00:17 UK

Vitamin D 'slashes cancer risk'

Taking vitamin D tablets could substantially reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer, research suggests.

For the new study, which was led by Northwestern University in Illinois and features in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers examined data on more than 120,000 people from two large, long-term health surveys.

Taking the US Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamin D (400 IU/day) was found to reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer by 43%.

They said further work was necessary to determine if consuming vitamin D in the diet, or through sun exposure might have even more of an effect than taking supplements.

Lead researcher Dr Hal Skinner said: "I would make no specific recommendation for vitamin D supplementation to prevent pancreatic cancer until we can carry out a trial to determine definitively who might benefit from such an intervention."

Henry Scowcroft, science information officer at the charity Cancer Research UK, said: "The results of this study don't mean that people should take vitamin D supplements to ward off pancreatic cancer, especially as vitamin D can be harmful in large quantities.

"As the authors themselves point out, this is the very first study to find any association between the disease and vitamin D intake.

Pete's Points

from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002405.htm

"Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is used by the body in the absorption of calcium.

Vitamin D promotes the body's absorption of calcium, which is essential for the normal development and maintenance of healthy teeth and bones. Calcium is also important to nerve cells, including the brain.

Vitamin D also helps maintain adequate blood levels of calcium and phosphorus.

Vitamin D is found in the following foods:

• Dairy products
  • Cheese
  • Butter
  • Cream
  • Fortified milk (all milk in the U.S. is fortified with vitamin D)
• Fish
• Oysters
• Fortified cereals
• Margarine

A vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis in adults or rickets in children.

Excessive doses of vitamin D can result in increased calcium absorption from the intestinal tract. This may cause increased calcium resorption from the bones, leading to elevated levels of calcium in the blood. Elevated blood calcium may then cause calcium deposition in soft tissues such as the heart and lungs. This can reduce their ability to function.

Kidney stones, vomiting, and muscle weakness may also occur due to the ingestion of too much vitamin D.

The best way to get the daily requirement of essential vitamins is to eat a balanced diet that contains a variety of foods from the food guide pyramid.

Vitamin D is also known as the "sunshine vitamin" because the body manufactures the vitamin after being exposed to sunshine. Ten to 15 minutes of sunshine 3 times weekly is adequate to produce the body's requirement of vitamin D.

So as usual we are left with the best advice that has been around for millenia, namely "all things in moderation".

I sometimes wonder where all this research is going