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Updated: May 26, 2026

Studying Chronic Exposure of Mice to Ultraviolet B Radiation
Published on: August 19, 2025
Ecological studies of the UVB-vitamin D-cancer hypothesis
1Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center, P.O. Box 641603, San Francisco, CA 94164-1603, USA. wbgrant@infionline.net
Background/Aim:
This paper reviews ecological studies of the ultraviolet-B (UVB)-vitamin D-cancer hypothesis based on geographical variation of cancer incidence and/or mortality rates.
Materials And Methods:
The review is based largely on three ecological studies of cancer rates from the United States; one each from Australia, China, France, Japan, and Spain; and eight multicountry, multifactorial studies of cancer incidence rates from more than 100 countries.
Results:
This review consistently found strong inverse correlations with solar UVB for 15 types of cancer: bladder, breast, cervical, colon, endometrial, esophageal, gastric, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, rectal, renal, and vulvar cancer; and Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Weaker evidence exists for nine other types of cancer: brain, gallbladder, laryngeal, oral/pharyngeal, prostate, and thyroid cancer; leukemia; melanoma; and multiple myeloma.
Conclusion:
The evidence for the UVB-vitamin D-cancer hypothesis is very strong in general and for many types of cancer in particular.
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