vitamin D and cancer
Last edited 08/2023 and last reviewed 09/2023
Vitamin D supplementation and cancer
- in the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL) study, 2000 IU of vitamin D3 administered daily
- study authors concluded:
- daily high dose vitamin D supplementation for 5 years among initially healthy adults did not reduce incidence of cancer or major cardiovascular events
- daily high dose vitamin D supplementation for 5 years among initially healthy adults did not reduce incidence of cancer or major cardiovascular events
- study authors concluded:
- a meta-analysis (2) of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) investigated vitamin D3 supplementation in the general population
- study authors concluded that:
- vitamin D3 did not reduce cancer mortality in the main meta-analysis of all RCTs because the observed risk reduction by 6% was not statistically significant
- however, a subgroup analysis revealed that vitamin D3 administered daily, in contrast to bolus supplementation, reduced cancer mortality by 12%
- study authors concluded that:
- vitamin D supplementation and digestive tract cancers
- in a post hoc analysis of a randomized clinical trial including 392 patients with digestive tract cancer, 5-year relapse-free survival was significantly higher in the vitamin D group (80.9%) than the placebo group (30.6%) among patients in the p53-immunoreactive subgroup but not in the non-p53-immunoreactive subgroup (3)
- study authors state that findings suggest that vitamin D supplementation may reduce the risk of relapse or death in this subgroup of patient
Notes:
- beneficial effects of vitamin D have been reported for cancers at various sites, and p53 oncosuppressor is the most frequently mutated gene in approximately half of cancers and relatively common across cancers at all primary sites (3)
- findings suggest that p53 and its related molecules may be plausible targets of vitamin D's anticancer effect
Reference:
- Manson JE et al. VITAL Research Group.Vitamin D supplements and prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease. NJEM 2019;380(1):33-44
- Kuznia et al.Efficacy of vitamin D3 supplementation on cancer mortality: systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Ageing Res Rev.2023;87:101923
- Kanno K, Akutsu T, Ohdaira H, Suzuki Y, Urashima M. Effect of Vitamin D Supplements on Relapse or Death in a p53-Immunoreactive Subgroup With Digestive Tract Cancer: Post Hoc Analysis of the AMATERASU Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(8):e2328886. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.28886