Can Low Vitamin D Levels Mean Prostate Cancer?

Posted in Blog, Cancer on May 01, 2014

Medical News Today recently reported on a study published in the Clinical Cancer Research journal that links low vitamin D levels with aggressive forms of prostate cancer. The author on the research study claims that vitamin D can have an influence on the growth patterns of prostate cells-both benign and malignant in form. The study he conducted at the Northwestern University Feinburg School of Medicine demonstrated that low levels of vitamin D appear to be predictors of aggressive prostate cancer.

The study included over 500 middle-aged male subjects, half of which were European-American and half of which were African-American. The males were chosen because they had all undergone biopsies after findings of abnormal prostate cells that could indicate cancer. Approximately half of each group of men ended up with prostate cancer diagnoses. The researchers then determined the vitamin D levels in each male group and found that the lower their levels of vitamin D, the higher their risk of aggressive prostate cancer.

The European-American males were 3.66 times more likely to develop cancer with low vitamin D levels whereas the African-American males were 4.89 times more likely to develop cancer. The researchers suspect this is the case because skin color can affect how much Vitamin D is absorbed, since the main source of vitamin D is the sun.

The researchers plan to investigate this revolutionary finding by going more in-depth throughout the coming years. These findings highlight the importance of regular cancer screenings for middle-aged men and reaffirm the idea that vitamin D can strongly affect the health of males between 49 and 70 years of age. To read the full research study, click here.