Life Extension Update Exclusive...
Another cancer linked with reduced vitamin D levels...
Readers of Life Extension Update will recall the September 23, 2006 issue which discussed the finding of researchers from the Moore’s Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego of an association between reduced sunlight exposure and a greater incidence of kidney cancer. Now, in an article that will be published online in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the UCSD team reports that women exposed to a greater amount of sunlight, particularly ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation, have a lower incidence of ovarian cancer. UVB exposure stimulates the synthesis of vitamin D in the body, however, the vitamin is also obtainable via the diet and/or supplementation.
UCSD School of Medicine professor of Family and Preventive Medicine Cedric F. Garland, Dr PH, and colleagues utilized a database of cancer incidence, mortality, and prevalence in 175 countries, recently made available from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. By graphing ovarian cancer incidence rates according to latitude, the team was able to demonstrate an association between higher latitudes, which receive reduced sunlight, and ovarian cancer. Additionally, greater fertility rates among women between the ages of 15 and 19, which may be protective against ovarian cancer, were more prevalent in lower latitudes.
“In general, ovarian cancer incidence was highest at the highest latitudes in both hemispheres,” Dr Garland stated. “They were about five times higher in high latitudes, like Iceland and Norway, than in equatorial regions like Asia, South America and Africa. Even after controlling for fertility, the association remained strong.”
“Unlike breast cancer, we have no widely accepted means of early detection or prevention for ovarian cancer,” Dr Garland observed. “This new global study shows a link between deficiency of vitamin D and increased incidence of ovarian cancer, suggesting that vitamin D supplementation may reduce the incidence of this aggressive cancer.”
Approximately 15,300 deaths from ovarian cancer occur in the United States each year.
Learn the latest on vitamin D
Christopher Wiechert, C.N.C.
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
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