Often referred to as ‘sunshine vitamin’, vitamin D is made in the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight.
The
very few foods in nature that contain vitamin D include the flesh of
fatty fish (such as salmon, tuna and mackerel) and fish liver oils.
"Measuring
vitamin D levels in bowel cancer patients could also provide a useful
indication of prognosis," the scientists noted.
For the study,
researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Britain tested blood
samples from almost 1,600 patients after surgery for bowel cancer. The
greatest benefit of vitamin D was seen in patients with stage 2 disease,
at which the tumour may be quite large but the cancer has not yet
spread.
Three quarters of the patients with the highest vitamin D
levels were still alive at the end of five years, compared with less
than two thirds of those with the lowest levels, the findings showed.
"Our
findings are promising but it is important to note that this is an
observational study. We need carefully designed randomized clinical
trials before we can confirm whether taking vitamin D supplements offers
any survival benefit for bowel cancer patients," professor Malcolm
Dunlop from the University of Edinburgh added.
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