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Nutrition, Vitamins & Supplements for Seniors
Vitamin D Cuts Risk of Deadly Pancreatic Cancer
Almost in Half
Not determined if dietary sources or
sunlight are preferable
 September 13, 2006 - The risk of getting pancreatic
cancer, a quick killer and the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths in
the United States, can be cut almost in half by taking daily the
recommended dosage of Vitamin D tablets, according to a study led by
researchers at Northwestern and Harvard universities.
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Drink milk, get modest exposure to the sun and take a vitamin pill
Feb. 8, 2006 - Vitamin D can inhibit the spread of
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University of Rochester Medical Center scientists report. It's good news
for senior citizens, since prostate cancer – the number one cancer found
in American men – is usually discovered after men reach 70 years of age.
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Vitamin D Intake by Older People Should be Increased
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Nov. 17, 2005 - The American Medical Women's
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Vitamin D Should be Increased for Senior Citizens to
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Vitamin E Offshoot Transformed to Potent Cancer
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Government Panel Has Ideas on Supplements, Undecided
on Multivitamins
They do want more government oversight on
vitamins and dietary supplements
By Tucker Sutherland, editor
May 18, 2006 – The vast majority of senior citizens
take multivitamins and other dietary supplements. Although usage
increases with age, it is a growing trend for all Americans, with more
than half spending $23 billion a year for the hope of better health.
Unfortunately, the National Institutes of Health's panel concluded their
extensive study yesterday with the conclusion – "more rigorous
scientific research is needed before strong recommendations can be made
regarding MVM use to prevent chronic diseases."
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Nutrition, Vitamins & Supplements |
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The finding point to Vitamin D's potential to
prevent the disease, and is one of the first known studies to use a
large-scale epidemiological survey to examine the relationship between
the nutrient and cancer of the pancreas. The study, led by Halcyon
Skinner, Ph.D., of Northwestern, appears in the September issue of
Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.
The study examined data from two large, long-term
health surveys and found that taking the U.S. Recommended Daily
Allowance of Vitamin D (400 IU/day) reduced the risk of pancreatic
cancer by 43 percent. By comparison, those who consumed less than 150
IUs per day experienced a 22 percent reduced risk of cancer. Increased
consumption of the vitamin beyond 400 IUs per day resulted in no
significant increased benefit.
"Because there is no effective screening for
pancreatic cancer, identifying controllable risk factors for the disease
is essential for developing strategies that can prevent cancer," said
Skinner.
"Vitamin D has shown strong potential for
preventing and treating prostate cancer, and areas with greater sunlight
exposure have lower incidence and mortality for prostate, breast, and
colon cancers, leading us to investigate a role for Vitamin D in
pancreatic cancer risk. Few studies have examined this association, and
we did observe a reduced risk for pancreatic cancer with higher intake
of Vitamin D."
Skinner, currently in the Department of Population
Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and
Public Health, and his colleagues analyzed data from two long-term
studies of health and diet practices, conducted at Harvard University.
They looked at data on 46,771 men aged 40 to 75
years who took part in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and
75,427 women aged 38 to 65 years who participated in the Nurses' Health
Study.
Between the two studies, they identified 365 cases
of pancreatic cancer. The surveys are considered valuable for their
prospective design, following health trends instead of looking at purely
historical information, high follow-up rates and the ability to enable
researchers like Skinner to incorporate data from two independent
studies.
This year, the American Cancer Society estimates
that 32,000 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed. About the same number
of people will die this year from the disease. It has no known cure, and
surgical treatments are not often effective. Except for cigarette
smoking, no environmental factors or dietary practices have been linked
to the disease.
In addition to Vitamin D, the researchers also
measured the association between pancreatic cancer and the intakes of
calcium and retinol (Vitamin A). Calcium and retinol intakes showed no
association with pancreatic cancer risk, although retinol is an
antagonist of Vitamin D's ability to influence mineral balances and bone
integrity.
For that reason, further research is necessary to
determine if Vitamin D ingestion from dietary sources, like eggs, liver
and fatty fish or fortified dairy products, or through sun exposure
might be preferable to multi-vitamin supplements, which contain retinol.
The potential benefits of vitamin D for pancreatic
cancer were only recently established by other laboratory studies.
Normal and cancerous pancreas tissue contain high levels of the enzyme
that converts circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D into 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin
D, the vitamin's active form. Other studies have shown an anti-cell
proliferation effect of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, potentially inhibiting
tumor cells.
"In concert with laboratory results suggesting
anti-tumor effects of Vitamin D, our results point to a possible role
for Vitamin D in the prevention and possible reduction in mortality of
pancreatic cancer. Since no other environmental or dietary factor showed
this risk relationship, more study of Vitamin D's role is warranted,"
Skinner said.
Notes:
Skinner's colleagues in the study include
Dominique Michaud, Edward Giovannucci, Walter Willett and Graham Colditz
of Harvard, and Charles Fuchs of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The mission of the American Association for
Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, AACR is
the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to
advancing cancer research. The membership includes more than 24,000
basic, translational, and clinical researchers; health care
professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States
and more than 60 other countries.
AACR publishes five major peer-reviewed journals:
Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer
Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology,
Biomarkers & Prevention. Its most recent publication, CR, is a magazine
for cancer survivors, patient advocates, their families, physicians, and
scientists. It provides a forum for sharing essential, evidence-based
information and perspectives on progress in cancer research,
survivorship, and advocacy.
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