A study just published in the American Journal of Epidemiology this March found that Vitamin D and calcium are protective against the development of colorectal cancer.
Colorectal cancer is the number two cause of cancer related deaths in the US. Both men and women are advised to have routine screening for colorectal cancer after the age of 50, even with no known risk factors. If detected early the cancer is easily curable, but late detection often yields an advanced stage diagnosis with a high possibility of metastasis.
There is a familial pattern for colorectal cancer, but its devlopment and progression is often related to dietary health of the individual.
Researchers at the University of Hawaii wanted to look for any coorelates dietary intake of specific nutrients may have on the incidence of this cancer. They studied dietary questionaires of more than 190,000 men and women over a 10 year period. The average follow up period was about 7 years.
During follow up a total of 2110 men and women were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, or just above 1% of the study population.
Both Vitamin D and calcium were found to have an inverse, or protective, relationship with colorectal cancer.
The men and women with the highest intakes of calcium had 30 and 36 percent decreased risk of the disease respectively compared with those with the lowest intakes.
Vitamin D was inversely associated with colorectal cancer in men only.
Interestingly, dairy was also found to be coorelated with a protective effect on colorectal cancer, yielding a decrease in risk of 23 percent for men and 34 percent for women.
The study did not reveal the exact mechanism Vitamin D and calcium play in the development or prevention of colorectal cancer, but the results are positive nonetheless.
Posted by Dr. Christina Gutierrez on April 5, 2007 03:46 PM
