Wed. Oct 09, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- New research published in Cancer Causes & Control suggests that taking vitamin D supplements may help breast cancer survival.

The study is not a trial and a causal relation between vitamin D and longer breast cancer survival has not yet been established.  However, the observational study does provide a hint as to what vitamin D may do for breast cancer patients.  The study is consistent with many other previous studies.

Adriana Villaseñor and colleagues analyzed data from a multiethnic cohort of breast cancer survivors and found those who had sufficient serum levels of vitamin D were 42% less likely to die during a seven year follow-up, compared with breast cancer patients who had insufficient vitamin D in the blood.

Some prior studies provide evidence on the association between vitamin D and outcomes of breast cancer and clinicians advise that breast cancer patients take vitamin D supplements to better their odds of survival.

Included in the study were 585 breast cancer survivors from western Washington State, New Mexico, and Los Angeles County whose blood samples were collected and stored two years post enrollment and analyzed for serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D.   Breast cancer survivors were followed up for an average of 9.2 years.   Death records were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries and medical records. 

For the study, lower than 20 ng  of 25(OH)D /ml was defined as vitamin D deficiency, 2o to 30 ng/mL as vitamin D insufficiency and greater than 30 ng/mL as vitamin D sufficiency.

Compared with women who were vitamin D deficient, those who had sufficient vitamin D were at 42 reduced risk for all-cause mortality.  When multivariate confounders were considered, the vitamin D associated reduction in all cause death risk in breast cancer survivors was attenuated to 10%.

Prior studies suggest that more than 85% of the breast cancer cases can be prevented in the first place by simply maintaining a high level of serum vitamin D.  

Breast cancer is expected to be diagnosed in 300,000 women in the United States this year and nearly 40,000 of them are expected to die from the disease or its complications or treatment.

Vitamin D is safer than thought.  Vitamin D Council claims that for adults up to 5000 to 6000 IU per day is safe.   Vitamin D has been associated with reduced risk of more than 100 health conditions and it can improve many of these health conditions.

On the market, vitamin D is available as a dietary supplement in two forms, tablets or vitamin D drops.  Vitamin D pills come with lots of fillers while vitamin D drops are fairly clean. Savvy consumers tend to use vitamin D drops and avoid pills with some unhealthy fillers. (JD)