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Vitamin D and Colorectal Cancer Back in the News

Date: 2/28/2010
Source: About Colon Cancer

The news on vitamin D and colon cancer keeps coming. I've studied nutrition and health extensively. And it's pretty darn rare that you'll here me say, "Everybody needs X, Y, or Z dietary supplement."

For the most part, a healthy diet, a healthy body weight, regular exercise, and avoidance of tobacco is what everyone needs to lower cancer risk significantly. I might suggest a few dietary supplements here and there, depending on personal health and disease risk factors. But that's about it. I'm not a big "pill popper" or "vitamin pusher".

I just might make an exception for vitamin D. The latest research on the topic again supports vitamin D's important role in warding off colon cancer.

By The Numbers

The current study comes out of a larger, long-running study called EPIC, which is short for European Prospective Investigation into Cancer. EPIC includes more than half a million people from 10 European countries.

Researchers looked at a subset of 2,500 people from this larger group for the vitamin D-colon cancer study. They examined the connection between blood levels of vitamin D at the beginning of the study, and risk of later developing colorectal cancer.

People with a vitamin D blood level between 50 to 75 nanomoles per liter (nm/L) had 40% lower risk of developing colon cancer, as compared with people who had blood levels below 50 nm/L. There was no added benefit for blood levels above 75 nm/L.

In essence, the optimal blood level of vitamin D for reducing colon cancer risk seems to be between 50 and 75 nm/L.

More is Not Better

Blood levels of vitamin D above 75 nm/L did not seem to give any additional reduction in colon cancer risk. This is important to note. Very high levels of vitamin D can be toxic. Fortunately, vitamin D toxicity is very rare, even among people who use dietary supplements. But taking very high doses of vitamin D without needing it is not a good idea.

But A Little More Might Be Just Right

Also keep in mind that many nutrition experts feel that the current recommended dietary allowance (RDA) is set too low for vitamin D. It is expected that in the near future, the RDA will be raised to at least 1,000 international units (IU) per day. Some health experts feel the RDA should be raised to 2,000 IU per day. The current RDA is 400 IU per day.

Getting The D You Need

The best way to determine how much vitamin D you need is to get a blood vitamin D test. This test is fairly inexpensive. It is covered by most insurance. If your levels come back low, your doctor can help you pick the right vitamin D dietary supplement.

If you can't get tested for vitamin D, taking a supplement is safe for most people. You should talk to your doctor first though. The current safe upper limit of vitamin D intake is set at 2,000 IU per day. If you decide to take a supplement, do not take more than 2,000 IU per day, unless advised to do so by your doctor.

Vitamin D and Colorectal Cancer Back in the News originally appeared on About.com Colon Cancer on Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 19:20:12.

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