A vitamin pill available for a few pence in any local chemist’s shop may have a bigger impact in extending the survival of cancer patients than drugs costing tens of thousands of pounds, says a leading cancer specialist. Professor Angus Dalgeish, consultant medical oncologist at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, south-west London, will tell a conference next week that he tests all his cancer patients for the level of Vitamin D and prescribes supplements where they are low.
At St George’s, where he runs a clinic for patients with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, tests showed that the majority had low Vitamin D.
“If we supplement people who are low they may do better than expected. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Vitamin D turns out to be more useful in improving outcomes in cases of early relapse than drugs costing £10,000 a year,” said Professor Dalgleish. “I spent a decade studying interferon for which the NHS paid £10,000 annually per patient for years for very little benefit. Vitamin D is much more likely to give a benefit in my view.”
Vitamin D
Professor Dalgleish said he also tests Vitamin D levels in his private patients who have different kinds of cancer and prescribes the vitamin to any where it is low. An audit of vitamin D levels in patients being treatment at the private London Oncology Clinic has started.
He will speak at the conference, at BMA House in London next Wednesday, alongside other specialists who will present evidence for the role of the vitamin in reducing cancer.
Joan Lappe, professor of medicine at Creighton University in Nebraska, US, will describe a trial showing how Vitamin D and calcium supplements given to cancer patients dramatically improved survival. The trial was originally designed to assess the effects of the supplements on osteoporosis, the bone-thinning disease, and only later switched to examine their effects on cancer. Other papers will present results of the effect of vitamin D on bowel cancer and adenocarcinoma, a cancer of the skin and other tissues.
Professor Dalgeish said he had been intrigued by research on patients with melanoma by the University of Leeds which showed that those with the lowest level of Vitamin D in their blood had the poorest outlook. They were 30 per cent more likely to suffer a recurrence of the disease after treatment than those who had the highest levels. “It was the most staggering thing. When we had a validated test and looked at our patients [at St George's] the majority were low. I am trying to get my colleagues to look at all their cancer patients.”
Melanoma is commonest in people with pale skin who spend little time in the sun throughout the year, until they go on holiday and get severely sunburnt. Adults who suffered severe sunburn before the age of 15 are at greatest risk.
Professor Dalgleish said: “We have always known that melanoma was caused by sunburn plus fair skin and moles plus an unknown Factor X. The speculation now is whether Vitamin D has something to do with Factor X. Why I am excited as a clinician is that with Vitamin D we can move low levels to high levels, with supplements.”
Vitamin D is the only vitamin that humans make themselves, from the action of the sun on the skin, and is essential for the health of skin and bones.
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A DAILY vitamin D pill costing just 20p may help cancer patients to live longer, a leading expert believes.
The sunshine vitamin is already credited with helping to improve bone health and prevent the childhood disease rickets.
But there is mounting evidence it could also be a useful tool in the battle against cancer.
A British oncologist will next week tell a conference that many of his skin cancer patients have unusually low levels of vitamin D.
He now gives them supplements and says they often survive for longer than expected.
Although he has not yet done a clinical trial to back up his theory, he believes that vitamin D pills at just 20p a day could eventually prove as effective as cancer treatments that cost thousands of pounds per patient.
Professor Angus Dalgleish, consultant medical oncologist at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, south-west London, said: “If we supplement people who are low they may do better than expected.
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if vitamin D turns out to be more useful in improving outcomes in cases of early relapse than drugs costing £10,000 a year.
“I spent a decade studying interferon for which the NHS paid £10,000 annually per patient for years for very little benefit. Vitamin D is much more likely to give a benefit in my view.”
An alliance of leading charities including Cancer Research UK and the British Association of Dermatologists published a statement late last year in support of vitamin D in protecting bone health.
They said the public should try to get a blast of midday sun for around 10 minutes on three days of the week, to top up their vitamin D levels.
However, the group stopped short of saying the vitamin could help protect against multiple sclerosis and certain forms of cancer because they believe that there is still not enough robust evidence.
But next week the conference in London will hear of a new trial that does support this link.
Joan Lappe, professor of medicine at Creighton University in Nebraska, US, will present evidence showing that vitamin D and calcium supplements helped to dramatically improve cancer survival rates.
Other studies presented will show the vitamin can help those with bowel and skin cancers.
Professor Dalgleish said: “We have always known that melanoma was caused by sunburn plus fair skin and moles, plus an unknown ‘Factor X’.
“The speculation now is whether vitamin D has something to do with Factor X. Why I am excited as a clinician is that with vitamin D we can move low levels to high levels with supplements.”
About 90 per cent of our vitamin D comes from exposure to sunlight. Too much sun can trigger skin cancer, but most experts agree a 10 to 15 minute walk in the sun will boost vitamin D levels without causing skin damage.
Vitamin D can be taken in pill form and is also found in foods such as oily fish, eggs and cereals.