A diet packed with Vitamin D combined with high levels of sunlight could reduce the risk of breast cancer in women by 43 per cent.
A new study of 70,000 women conducted over ten years revealed that a diet high in Vitamin D had no effect on its own.
One theory is that consuming a diet rich in Vitamin D makes a difference only when there is already a sufficient amount produced from sun exposure.
Therefore, when sun exposure is low, diet intake does not make any difference to risk of disease.
However, the study concludes that an increase in overall Vitamin D intake should be encouraged, including fortifying foods with it – a practice already under way in America.
Laboratory studies have suggested that Vitamin D may have a number of anti-cancer effects and has been shown to slow the spread of cancer cells.
Researchers at the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health in France tracked 67,721 women aged 41 to 72 for a decade to see who developed breast cancer. Their diets and ultraviolet levels where they lived were then analysed to calculate the risks. At the end of the ten-year period 2,871 breast cancers had been diagnosed.
Vitamin D
Some 45 per cent of their dietary Vitamin D came from fish and seafood, 16 per cent from eggs, 11 per cent from dairy products, ten per cent from oils and margarine, and six per cent from cakes.
Living in regions with the highest ultraviolet levels was associated with a significant – nearly ten per cent – reduced risk compared to those women in the areas with the lowest UV.
But the biggest effects were seen when the researchers examined the impact of both sources of the vitamin.
In regions which had the highest level of daily ultraviolet, the women with higher level of Vitamin D in their diets or who took supplements had a breast cancer risk 32 to 43 per cent lower compared with those with the lowest vitamin intake.
‘Our findings support a protective effect of sun exposure on the risk of breast cancer,’ says Dr Pierre Engel, who led the study.
‘It is difficult to have a simple public-health message without thinking about the risk of skin cancer. We must be very cautious but we think that increased Vitamin D levels by reasonable sun exposure and higher dietary intakes should be encouraged.
‘As suggested by our results, diet alone seems unable to provide an adequate amount of Vitamin D.’
High dietary and supplemental Vitamin D intakes are associated with a reduced risk in women living in areas with higher UV exposure. When a sufficient Vitamin D level is secured through UV exposure, variations in dietary intake may become of importance. When the underlying level of Vitamin D photosynthesis is low, variations in dietary intake are insufficient to make any difference in disease risk.
‘These results confirm other work we have carried out showing that women with high blood Vitamin D levels are at reduced risk of breast cancer compared to those who have very low levels,’ adds Dr Engel.
In the UK, Vitamin D deficiency is a common problem – more than half of the population has insufficient levels. Darker skins need more sun to get the same amount of Vitamin D as a fair-skinned person. The sunlight required has to fall directly on to exposed skin – two to three times a week for up to 30 minutes during summer months (April to September), which should then last throughout the year.
A simple blood test can show deficiency which can be rectified with supplements or injections.
Vitamin D deficiency can result in thin, brittle bones and the condition osteoporosis in older adults and rickets in children.
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Scientists have found a protein that makes tumor cells in breast cancer resistant to treatments.
Researchers at the Andalusian Institute for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER) and the University of Granada found that cFLIP -an inhibitor of death ligand-induced apoptosis- is not only essential in breast tumor cells resistance to TRAIL treatments (a death ligand with a potent therapeutic potential against cancer), but this protein is also key to the survival of such cancer cells.
They found that a variation in the expression of this protein may lead to the normal development of breast epithelium.
The study analyzed the role of cFLIP in breast cancer cells’ resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Thus, researchers concluded that cFLIP is key in these cells’ resistance to TRAIL.
Such conclusion was drawn from the evidence that the inhibition of their expression through treatments with Doxorubicin (anthracycline, widely used in chemotherapy) or with SAHA (Histone deacetylases inhibitor), as well as the silencing of its expression through cFLIP siRNA oligos (small interfering RNA), resulted in the sensitisation of breast cancer cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis.
The researchers have proved that cFLIP plays a survival role in tumorous and non-tumorous breast epithelial cells, since the inhibition of its expression induces apoptosis.
A new research has found that there is no link between serum levels of vitamin D or parathyroid hormone and cardiovascular mortality.
Researchers collected data from the Rancho Bernardo study, which was established in 1972.
Between 1997 and 1999, 1091 participants attended a follow-up visit where blood samples were collected, along with detailed surveys of medical history, medications, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and exercise.
In populations with chronic kidney disease, low levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and high levels of intact parathyroid hormone have been suggested to explain the association between chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular mortality.
Even in people with intact kidney function, there are multiple mechanisms that could link Vitamin D and cardiovascular disease.
“To our knowledge, this is the first prospective study to investigate the role of serum 25[OH]D, 1,25[OH]2D, and intact parathyroid hormone in the prediction of cardiovascular mortality in a population of older community-dwelling adults with a low prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and a broad range of kidney function,” said lead investigator Simerjot K. Jassal, of the University of California.
He continued, “After adjusting for age alone, there was no independent association between serum levels of 25(OH)D, 1,25(OH)2D, or intact parathyroid hormone and cardiovascular mortality.”
“Prior published literature in community-dwelling adults suggests an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality only in individuals with vitamin D levels lower than levels observed here. Our null results may mean that only larger disruptions in levels of 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2D contribute to cardiovascular mortality.
“These null findings are also compatible with results from randomized clinical trials in which vitamin D supplementation has failed to prevent cardiovascular outcomes, although the doses of vitamin D in these trials may have been too low,” he added.
The study was published in the American Journal of Medicine.