RESEARCH - Epidemiology of disease risks in relation to vitamin D insufficiency

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Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2006 Sep;92(1):65-79. Epub 2006 Feb 28.

Epidemiology of disease risks in relation to vitamin D insufficiency.

Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center (SUNARC), 2107 Van Ness

Avenue, Suite 403B, San Francisco, CA 94109-2529, USA. wgrant@...

Vitamin D from ultraviolet-B (UVB) irradiance, food, and supplements is

receiving increased attention lately for its role in maintaining optimal

health. Although the calcemic effects of vitamin D have been known for about

a century, the non-calcemic effects have been studied intently only during

the past two-three decades. The strongest links to the beneficial roles of

UVB and vitamin D to date are for bone and muscle conditions and diseases.

There is also a preponderance of evidence from a variety of studies that

vitamin D reduces the risk of colon cancer, with 1000 IU/day of vitamin D or

serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels >33 ng/mL (82 nmol/L) associated with a 50%

lower incidence of colorectal cancer. There is also reasonable evidence that

vitamin D reduces the risk of breast, lung, ovarian, and prostate cancer and

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. There is weaker, primarily ecologic, evidence for

the role of vitamin D in reducing the risk of an additional dozen types of

cancer. There is reasonably strong ecologic and case-control evidence that

vitamin D reduces the risk of autoimmune diseases including such as multiple

sclerosis and type 1 diabetes mellitus, and weaker evidence for rheumatoid

arthritis, osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and

stroke. It is noted that mechanisms whereby vitamin D exerts its effect are

generally well understood for the various conditions and diseases discussed

here.

PMID: 16546242

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=16546242

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