Diagnosed with breast cancer – take vitamin D to cut chance of death by half

Created July 2018

De novo vitamin D supplement use post-diagnosis is associated with breast cancer survival.

Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2018 Jul 23. doi: 10.1007/s10549-018-4896-6. [Epub ahead of print]

Madden JM1, Murphy L2, Zgaga L3, Bennett K2.

This is similar to many studies that have found that Vitamin D treats many health problems Vitamin D has been proven to 1. Kill the Cancer cells 1. Make the chemotherapy more effective, thus smaller doses can be used * Perhaps less chemotherapy will result in less hair loss 1. Reduce risk of Cancer metastasis 1. Reduce pain --- Breast Cancer Studies * Breast Cancer Mortality reduced 60 percent if more than 60 ng of Vitamin D – meta-analysis June 2017 * Following breast cancer 100K IU Vitamin D doses twice a month helped a lot – RCT July 2016 * Breast Cancer chemotherapy 2.7 X more likely to be successful if not vitamin D deficient – Dec 2017 * Breast Cancer trial using 50,000 IU Vitamin D weekly cancelled (no funding * Breast Cancer treatment outcome might be predictable from Vitamin D test results – trial 2024 * Increased Breast Cancer metastasis if low vitamin D or poor VDR – Feb 2016 * So, probably less metastasis if high vitamin D * Breast Cancer Chemotherapy dropped Vitamin D levels by 6 nanograms – Nov 2015 * Breast Cancer Awareness month should be changed to PREVENTION – video Aug 2018 * Triple-negative Breast Cancer treatment aided by Vitamin D – May 2016 After Cancer Diagnosis Studies * Chemotherapy might be augmented with Vitamin D – Jan 2017 * Less radiation therapy needed if have more vitamin D (lung cancer in lab) – March 2017 * Vitamin D improves Cancer survival – Nov 2013 * * Cancer - After diagnosis category listing has items has the following chart** image                  click on chart for details

PURPOSE:

Experimental laboratory data have indicated a protective effect of vitamin D on breast cancer progression, while epidemiological evidence is growing. Using pharmacy claims data, this study investigates the association between vitamin D supplement use initiated after a breast cancer diagnosis and associated mortality.

METHODS:

Women aged 50-80 years with a record of invasive breast cancer were identified on the National Cancer Registry Ireland database (n = 5417). Initiation of de novo vitamin D post-diagnosis was identified from linked national prescription data (n = 2581, 49%). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate adjusted HRs (95% CIs) for breast cancer-specific mortality.

RESULTS:

There was a 20% reduction in breast cancer-specific mortality in de novo vitamin D users (modelled as a time-varying variable) compared to non-users (HR 0.80; 95% CI 0.64-0.99, p = 0.048) and the reduction was greater at 49% (HR 0.51; 95% CI 0.34-0.74, p < 0.001), if vitamin D was initiated soon after the breast cancer diagnosis (within 6 months).

CONCLUSIONS:

In this large national breast cancer cohort, de novo vitamin D use post-diagnosis was found to be associated with a reduction in breast cancer-specific mortality. Vitamin D, therefore, has the potential as a non-toxic and inexpensive agent to improve survival in breast cancer patients. Findings support the need for RCTs exploring the effect of vitamin D supplementation on breast cancer survival.

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Tags: Breast Cancer