Have your operation in the summertime!

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Study: Vitamin D Helps Fight Lung Cancer

April 19, 2005 8:33 PM EDT

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Getting enough vitamin D may be a matter of life or

death. A provocative new study suggests it plays an important role in

surviving lung cancer.

People can get the nutrient from their food, vitamin pills or being out

in the sunshine. Researchers found that the lung cancer patients with

high intake who had surgery during the summer were more than twice as

likely to be alive five years later than those with low levels who had

operations in winter.

It is one of several recent studies to show the benefits of the

" sunshine vitamin " against cancer.

" There are a lot of data emerging from various areas suggesting it is

important, " said Dr. Giovannucci, professor of nutrition and

epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

He helped conduct what is believed to be the first human study to look

at vitamin D and lung cancer survival. The results were reported Tuesday

at an American Association for Cancer Research conference in Anaheim.

" This is a very interesting study. It's a new trend - looking at dietary

factors as they relate to survival, " not just the risk of getting a

certain cancer, said Dr. Thun, chief epidemiologist at the

American Cancer Society, who had no role in the research.

Vitamin D is made by the skin from sunlight. Getting enough from diet

alone is tough - fish and fortified milk are the main sources.

Supplements are controversial because too much D can cause medical

problems, but many scientists think the recommended daily level of 400

international units is too low.

The nutrient has many features that could explain its possible benefit

against cancer, such as stifling cell growth. Doctors had seen evidence

suggesting it prevents some cancers, and wanted to know if it also

affected survival.

Led by Harvard University's Dr. Christiani, they studied 456

consecutive patients with early-stage lung cancer at Massachusetts

General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer

Institute. Patients were interviewed about diet, supplements and timing

of their cancer surgery, which was thought to be another indicator of

their vitamin D levels.

Those who had high vitamin D levels and summer operations fared the

best: five-year survival was 72 percent versus 29 percent for those who

had the lowest levels of the nutrient and winter surgery.

This does not mean that people should delay or try to time operations,

but taking vitamin D supplements around the time of surgery might be a

good idea, said Wei Zhou, a Harvard researcher who presented the study

results.

If verified by larger experiments, " this would be considered an

important gain, " said Thun of the cancer society. " A benefit of this

size is important for this highly lethal disease. "

Lung cancer is the world's top cancer killer. About 172,500 new cases

and 163,510 deaths are expected this year in the United States, and more

than 1.3 million cases and nearly 1.2 million deaths worldwide.

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On the Net:

Cancer conference: www.aacr.org

Cancer Society: www.cancer.org