Medical News Today

The merits of vitamin D when it comes to cancer prevention have long been at the heart of medical debates.

Where some studies have revealed that overall cancer risk is lower in people with higher levels of this vitamin, others have suggested that vitamin D has no impact on a person's vulnerability to the disease.

Still, the case for ensuring that you get enough vitamin D is fairly strong, as low blood levels of this nutrient have been associated with a raised risk of bladder cancer and, in a study that was published earlier this year, an elevated risk of bowel cancer.

Previous research has also suggested a link between high vitamin D levels and better survival rates in people going through breast cancer treatment.

In a pooled analysis of a prospective cohort study and two randomized clinical trials, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in have now investigated whether and to what extent high levels of vitamin D in the blood were associated with a lower risk of developing breast cancer.

Their analysis — which was conducted in collaboration with specialists from Creighton University in Omaha, NE, the Medical University of South Carolina in Columbia, and the nonprofit organization GrassrootsHealth in Encinitas, CA — suggests that certain levels of vitamin D correlate with a "markedly lower" risk of breast cancer.

These results are now published in the journal PLOS ONE. 

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