Vitamin D Helps Improve Survival From Bowel And Skin Cancer

New research shows higher levels of vitamin D may help improve survival for both bowel and skin cancer patients*.

The results of two studies published in the British Journal of Cancer and Journal of Clinical Oncology found people with higher levels of vitamin D – at the time they were diagnosed – were more likely to survive.

In the first study researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston followed 1017 bowel cancer patients for around nine years.

Using information about UV-B and sunlight exposure, skin type, body-mass index, and vitamin D intake from food and supplements they estimated the amount of vitamin D in patients’ blood at the time of diagnosis.

The results showed that those with higher vitamin D scores after being diagnosed with cancer were 50 per cent less likely to die from the disease – compared to those with lower vitamin D scores.

Professor Kimmie Ng, study author, said: “Our study shows that levels of vitamin D after colorectal cancer diagnosis may be important for survival. We are now planning further research in patients with bowel cancer to see if vitamin D has the same effect, and to investigate how vitamin D works with molecular and genetic pathways in the cell to fight cancer.”

The second study – funded by Cancer Research UK and the National Institutes of Health – found that malignant melanoma patients** with the lowest levels of vitamin D in their blood at the time they were diagnosed were 30 per cent more likely to relapse from the disease than those with the highest levels. Read more

Study Examines Efficacy Of Cervical Cancer Screening Methods

According to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, conventional Pap tests, which have been used since the 1940s, and ThinPrep, a test approved in 1996 that represents 70% of the U.S. cervical cancer market, are equally effective at detecting precancerous cells, USA Today reports. The main difference in the tests, according to USA Today, is how cells are prepared for evaluation (Rubin, USA Today, 10/28). Cells are smeared on a slide for evaluation in a traditional Pap test, while ThinPrep uses liquid-based cytology, wherein cells are rinsed in a vial of preservation solution (Reinberg, HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report, 10/27).

Study authors noted that FDA has allowed Hologic, the maker of ThinPrep, to say that the product is more effective in finding early and more advanced signs of cervical abnormalities (USA Today, 10/28). To test this assertion, the study authors randomly assigned 89,784 Dutch women to have either a traditional Pap test or a ThinPrep test (HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report, 10/27). George Sawaya, an ob-gyn at the University of California-San Francisco, said the study’s findings “should serve as a cautionary tale that just because something is new doesn’t mean it’s better.”

Mark Schiffman and Diana Solomon of the National Cancer Institute wrote in an accompanying editorial in JAMA that although ThinPrep is the more expensive alternative, it “is preferred by most laboratories because the specimen is easier and quicker to scan under the microscope.” Read more