Breast Cancer: Vitamin D – or sunshine – helps keep it away

05 July 2007

Women who supplement with vitamin D – or who do a little sunbathing once or twice a week – reduce their chances of developing breast cancer.

Researchers found that the vitamin, coupled with calcium, helps protect women, and especially from more aggressive breast tumours.

This was the first major human study into the protective effects of vitamin D. It was based on the findings from the Women’s Health Study, and involved 10,578 pre-menopausal, and 20,909 post-menopausal, women, whose health was monitored for 10 years.

The researchers found that the supplements’ main protective effect was among the pre-menopausal women.

(Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2007; 167: 1050-9).

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Breast Cancer: Vitamin D – or sunshine – helps keep it away

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