UCSD researchers show link between vitamin D status, breast cancer

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Public release date: 15-May-2008

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/uoc--urs051508.php

Contact: Kim

kedwards@...

University of California - San Diego

UCSD researchers show link between vitamin D status, breast cancer

Using newly available data on worldwide cancer incidence, researchers at

the s Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine have shown a clear

association between deficiency in exposure to sunlight, specifically

ultraviolet B (UVB), and breast cancer.

UVB exposure triggers photosynthesis of vitamin D3 in the body. This

form of vitamin D also is available through diet and supplements.

Approximately 1,150,000 cases and 410,000 deaths from breast cancer

occur annually worldwide, including 215,000 new cases and 41,000 deaths

in the United States.

The study is published in the May-June 2008 issue of The Breast Journal.

“This is the first study, to our knowledge, to show that higher serum

levels of vitamin D are associated with reduced incidence rates of

breast cancer worldwide,” said Cedric F. Garland, Dr. P.H., professor of

Family and Preventive Medicine in the UCSD School of Medicine, and

member of the s UCSD Cancer Center.

This paper used worldwide data only recently available through a new

tool called GLOBOCAN, developed by the World Health Organization’s

International Agency for Research on Cancer. GLOBOCAN is a database of

cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence for 175 countries.

The researchers created a graph with a vertical axis for breast cancer

incidence rates, and a horizontal axis for latitude. The latitudes range

from -50 for the southern hemisphere, to zero for the equator, to +70

for the northern hemisphere. They then plotted age-standardized

incidence rates for 175 countries according to latitude. The resulting

chart was a parabolic curve that looks like a smile.

“In general, breast cancer incidence was highest at the highest

latitudes in both hemispheres,” said Garland. “Even after controlling

for known variables such as meat, vegetable and alcohol intake,

cigarette consumption, weight, fertility and others, the inverse

association of modeled vitamin D status with breast cancer incidence

remained strong.”

In the paper, the authors caution that this was a study of aggregates,

or countries, rather than individuals; findings that apply to aggregates

may not apply to individuals. They recommend further research to study

individuals for the effect of vitamin D from sunlight, diet and

supplements on the risk of breast cancer.

###

This is the fourth environmental paper from this research team to show a

strong association between vitamin D and cancer using global incidence

data (GLOBOCAN). The first paper, which illuminated a similar pattern

for kidney cancer, was published Sept. 15, 2006, in the International

Journal of Cancer. The second, on ovarian cancer, was published Oct. 31,

2006, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The third, on

endometrial cancer, was published Sept. 16, 2007, in Preventive Medicine.

Authors on the new study are Cedric F. Garland, Dr. P.H., C.

Garland, Ph.D.; D. Gorham, Ph.D.; B. Grant, Ph.D.; and

Sharif B. Mohr, M.P.H. Authors’ institutional affiliations are UCSD

Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and s UCSD Cancer

Center (Mohr, C. Garland, Gorham and F. Garland), and the Sunlight,

Nutrition and Health Research Center, San Francisco (Grant).

To see a copy of the research paper:

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1524-4741.2008.00571.x

--

ne Holden, MS, RD

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