Can Vitamin D Prevent Prostate Cancer?

If you thought vitamin D's main role was preventing rickets and strengthening bone, think again. Many researchers now believe that the "sunshine vitamin" may one day play a key role in preventing the growth of prostate cancer, and in killing rogue prostate cancer cells that have escaped into the body. The data are quite suggestive and vitamin D is a most promising area for prostate cancer research.

During the past decade, there's been a surge in research into the association between vitamin D and prostate cancer. Multiple studies have reported a link between sub-optimal levels of vitamin D and an increased risk of developing various cancers including prostate cancer, although not all studies have been confirmatory. While these findings are encouraging and could eventually lead to widespread screening for and treatment of vitamin D deficiencies, we still need a large, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to demonstrate whether vitamin D supplementation can actually prevent prostate cancer.

Vitamin D was first isolated by Adolf Windaus, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1928 for his work. Vitamin D is not actually a vitamin; it's a hormone. A vitamin is a substance you have to get from food. Vitamin D, however, is manufactured in the body -- the definition of a hormone. While researchers are still working to determine the effects of vitamin D on the prostate, here are some of the heart benefits of this vitamin:

• Blood pressure regulation. While there is no direct evidence that vitamin D supplementation will lower blood pressure, people with high blood pressure generally have low blood levels of vitamin D.

• Heart attack, stroke, heart failure reduction. A recent study in Circulation reported that events such as heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure were anywhere from 53% to 80% higher in people with low levels of vitamin D in their blood. That risk increased even more in people with high blood pressure.
  Low blood levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, especially for people with high blood pressure, according to researchers with the Framingham Heart Study. The scientists followed 1,739 men and women for more than five years and reported that participants with low blood levels of vitamin D were 62% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those with higher levels. For those with low vitamin D levels and high blood pressure, cardiovascular risk doubled.

• Helps reduce inflammation. Researchers speculate that more vitamin D could lead to less inflammation in the arteries. Until recently, most researchers believed that heart disease was essentially a "plumbing" problem caused by an accumulation of hardened fat and cholesterol in the coronary arteries, known as plaque. However, an increasing body of evidence now shows that this accumulation of plaque is actually the result of chronic, low-grade inflammation in the coronary arteries. Researchers also believe that in the battle against heart disease, damping down this inflammation is nearly as important as lowering cholesterol.