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Health News Archive 659 - Cancer Risk
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Calcium and Vitamin D Reduce Cancer Risk

Past studies have established links between calcium and cancer and vitamin D and cancer.  This study confirms that a minimum of 1000 IU vitamin D taken with calcium supplementation will reduce cancer risk.

In a recent study, 1180 women over age 55 were randomly and blindly given either placebo (288 women), 1400 mg per day calcium citrate (445 women), or 1500 mg  per day calcium carbonate (446 women) plus vitamin D3 (1000 IU per day). Subjects were observed for incidence of breast, colon, and other non-skin cancers over a four-year follow-up period. The blood concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the form vitamin D takes in the body, increased almost 50% with supplementation but remained unchanged in the other groups.

During the first four years, 20 women in the placebo group, 17 in the calcium only group, and 13 in the calcium plus vitamin D group were diagnosed with cancer. Though cancer can take years of development before it is recognizable, cancers observed during the first year were ignored as likely originating before the onset of the study.  After this exception, 18 cancers occurred in the placebo group, 15 in the calcium group and only 8 in the calcium plus vitamin D group. Thus calcium alone appears to reduce the relative risk of cancers about 17%, but the risk does not decrease further when the first year cancers are not considered. This may be due to the specific elimination of colon cancers, since two colon cancers appeared in the placebo group, but none appeared in the calcium only group. The addition of vitamin D reduced the relative risk of cancer incidence almost 56%, when the first year cancers were eliminated.

This study supports the theory that calcium supplementation as well as vitamin D status is important in reducing cancer risk. Not only does the blood form of vitamin D increase calcium absorption, but at higher concentrations it exerts cell regulatory and immune effects. The current recommended intake of vitamin D is 200 to 600 IU per day. This study indicates that 1000 IU per day vitamin D taken with calcium supplementation may improve immune status, however it does not establish a minimum level for optimum health.

Source:  Joan M Lappe, Dianne Travers-Gustafson, K Michael Davies, Robert R Recker, and Robert P Heaney, “Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: results of a randomized trial”, Am J Clin Nutr 2007;85:1586 –91.

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