Vitamin D: More Effective in Fighting Breast Cancer than Wearing Pink?

In October - National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we will continue reporting on various studies which may give our readers, particularly those who wear pink to support the campaign to raise awareness of this terrible disease, some ideas on  how to prevent it.

At foodconsumer.org, we reported earlier on research which suggests that eating a low fat diet, using olive oil and other oils high in oleic acid, and limiting intake of corn oil and other oils high in linoleic acid may help reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Here we report on a study which suggests that maintaining high levels of serum vitamin D may help prevent breast cancer.  The study, however, does not prove that vitamin D deficiency is the cause of an increased risk of breast cancer, although the possibility can't be definitively ruled out.

Vitamin D deficiencies have already been associated with an elevated risk of about 20 cancers including breast cancer, according to Dr. John Cannell, a vitamin D expert and director of vitamin D Council. This sunshine vitamin may also have a protective effect against other diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and various infections, among other ailments.

For the current study, Engel P and colleagues from Center for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, Université Paris-Sud in Villejuif Cedex, France examined the association between high 25-hydroxyvitamin D or 25(OH)D serum levels and reduced breast cancer risk among premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

They compared 636 women diagnosed with breast cancer and 1272 women without the disease for their serum levels of vitamin D.  Study subjects and controls were matched based on age, menopausal status at blood collection, age at menopause and the locations and dates of collection.

Women in the tertile of the highest level of vitamin D were found 27 percent less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, compared to those in the lowest tertile.

Among women at the age of 53 or younger, those with the highest levels of vitamin D were associated with a 40 percent reduced risk of breast cancer; premenopausal women with the highest levels of the vitamin also showed a reduced risk, albeit the reduction in risk was not as dramatic as it was among the older women
 
The findings were published in the Sep 2010 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention.

The researchers wrote "Our findings support a decreased risk of breast cancer associated with high 25(OH) vitamin D(3) serum concentrations, especially in younger women, although we were unable to confirm a direct influence of age or menopausal status."

It should be noted that this is a case-control study, meaning that it did not prove a causal relation between vitamin D and breast cancer risk.

Engel et al maintain that randomized intervention trials with vitamin D supplementation are needed to confirm that high vitamin D levels are protective against the development of breast cancer.

It is hoped that those who wear pink during the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month may also garner information from reports like this, so they may become aware of how to better protect themselves.

Breast cancer was diagnosed in more than 195,000 women and men and killed about 50,000 in 2006 in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One in eight women in the U.S. is expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in their life time.  Simply wearing pink may not be enough to help fight the disease.  Every woman AND every man need to do their some home work to learn how to take good care of themselves.

Stay tuned for more reports.

David Liu, edited by Rachel Stockton