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The role of vitamin D in reducing cancer risk and progression
David Feldman1, Aruna V Krishnan1, Srilatha Swami1
1Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
Abstract:
Vitamin D is not really a vitamin but the precursor to the potent steroid hormone calcitriol, which has widespread actions throughout the body. Calcitriol regulates numerous cellular pathways that could have a role in determining cancer risk and prognosis. Although epidemiological and early clinical trials are inconsistent, and randomized control trials in humans do not yet exist to conclusively support a beneficial role for vitamin D, accumulating results from preclinical and some clinical studies strongly suggest that vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of developing cancer and that avoiding deficiency and adding vitamin D supplements might be an economical and safe way to reduce cancer incidence and improve cancer prognosis and outcome.
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