Sunshine vitamin boosts survival rates for cancer sufferers

Published on Monday 21 September 2009 22:05

HAVING higher levels of vitamin D in the body may improve survival rates in cancer patients, research revealed yesterday.

Two new studies found that people with more vitamin D when they were diagnosed with bowel or skin cancer were more likely to survive.

The research is the latest to suggest the health benefits of the "sunshine vitamin", which has also been linked to reducing the risk of multiple sclerosis.

Some experts have suggested that Scotland's higher rates of MS and other illnesses could be linked to the lack of sunshine which is needed by the body to produce vitamin D.

The latest studies, published in the British Journal of Cancer and the Journal of Clinical Oncology, focussed on vitamin D levels in people with bowel and skin cancer.

In the first study, a team from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston followed more than 1,000 bowel cancer patients for about nine years.

The researchers estimated the amount of vitamin D in their blood at the time of diagnosis by using information about sunlight exposure, skin type, body mass index (BMI) and intake from food and supplements.

They found that those who had higher levels of vitamin D after being diagnosed with cancer were 50 per cent less likely to die from the disease compared to those with lower amounts.

The second study, funded by Cancer Research UK and the National Institutes of Health, looked at patients with malignant melanoma – the most deadly form of skin cancer.

The researchers found that patients with the lowest levels of vitamin D in their blood at the time they were diagnosed were 30 per cent more likely to suffer a relapse from the disease than those with the highest levels.

The scientists also found that patients who had higher levels of vitamin D when they were diagnosed had thinner tumours.

Lead author Professor Julia Newton Bishop said: "Our results suggest that melanoma patients may need to get vitamin D by eating fatty fish or by taking supplements.

"But we are continuing to carry out research to find out the optimum level of vitamin D."

Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: "Both these studies support the theory that higher levels of vitamin D can improve the chance of surviving cancer.

"The key is to get the right balance between the amount of time spent in the sun and the levels of vitamin D needed for good health. But protection from burning in the sun is still vital."

8M SEARCH FOR NEW DRUGS

CANCER Research UK is to invest up to 8 million over the next five years as part of a drug discovery programme in Glasgow.

The Beatson programme has been established to look for potential new drugs that can be developed into cancer treatments.

Dr Martin Drysdale, who will lead the new programme, said: "For me, the major draw of this role is to be able to target areas of research which have been shown to be linked to cancer but have been difficult to address."