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# Vitamin D supplements benefit patients with early stage prostate cancer
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/vitamin_d_supplement_prostate_cancer_1219120604/
- Published: 2012-12-18T19:07:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:05:23.000Z
- Description: A review in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology concludes vitamin D may benefit men with early-stage prostate cancer on surveillance. In the authors' trial, 4,000 IU daily for a year left supplemented patients less likely to have positive cores at repeat biopsy.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Vitamins, Nutrition, #vivvo-import

By David Liu, PHD

Tuesday Dec 19, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Taking vitamin D supplements can not only help prevent vitamin D deficiency, but also benefit patients with prostate cancer, according to a new review article in Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Early studies have associated vitamin D deficiency with up to 17 types of major cancers including prostate cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer and lung cancer among others.

B. W. Hollis at Departments of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina and colleagues reviewed relevant studies and concluded that taking vitamin D can benefit patients with early stage prostate cancer who are under surveillance but without receiving treatment.

It has been known vitamin D promotes the differentiation of prostate cancer cells, which means that vitamin D deficiency for a long term may lead to the progression from sub-clinical prostate cancer to clinically significant disease. 

The association between vitamin D deficiency and risk of developing prostate cancer is real. For instance, African Americans are not only more likely to suffer vitamin D deficiency, but also more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, meaning that vitamin D deficiency is linked to higher risk of prostate cancer, compared with Caucasians. 

The authors conducted a clinical trial to test the effect of supplementation of 4,000 international units (IU) oer day for one year on the risk of early stage and low risk prostate cancer and found the supplement may benefit patients with early stage of prostate cancer because the supplemented prostate cancer patients were less likely to have positive cores at repeat biopsy.

It should be noted that the anticancer effect of vitamin D can only be seen when a high dose is used.

After the supplementation, the circulating serum vitamin D levels in the black men were found the same as that found in white men, meaning that supplementation of vitamin D is effective in overcoming vitamin d deficiency, which is more common among black men and women because their skin pigments shield sun rays which are needed for vitamin D synthesis.

The authors said that these clinical results suggest that the sustained "vitamin D(3) supplementation can reduce prostate cancer-related health disparities in African-American men."