Title:Shedding Light on Serum Vitamin D Concentrations and the Risk of Rarer Cancers
Volume: 13
Issue: 1
Author(s): Kathy J. Helzlsouer and Lisa Gallicchio
Affiliation:
Keywords:
25-hydroxyvitamin D, Bladder cancer, Cancer, Cohort, Endometrial cancer, Esophageal cancer, Gastric cancer, Kidney cancer, Nested case-control study, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Ovarian cancer, Pancreatic cancer, Prospective studies, Vitamin D
Abstract: Cancer is a broad term for many disparate diseases with different etiologies, commonly classified by affected organ site. This
review summarizes the published evidence from prospective cohort studies examining the associations between vitamin D, measured as
serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) concentrations, and the risk of rarer cancer sites including pancreatic, non-Hodgkin lymphoma,
ovarian, endometrial, kidney, gastric and esophageal cancer. Overall, evidence from prospective cohort studies provides little support for
a protective association between adequate or higher serum 25OHD concentrations and risk of these rarer cancer sites. Additionally,
controversy persists concerning a potential increased risk of pancreatic cancer associated with serum 25OHD levels >100 nmol/L due to
conflicting results reported by two large prospective pooling projects.
