A new study, presented at American Society of Breast Surgeons, indicated breast cancer patients have lower vitamin D levels than healthy individuals.
They also found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with breast cancer subtypes that are most deadly, including triple-negative disease and basal-like molecular phenotype, and that suboptimal levels of vitamin D are associated with an increased risk for recurrence.
Optimal levels of vitamin D is defined as at least 32 ng/mL and suboptimal levels is defined as below 2 ng/mL.
The study involved 194 newly diagnosed breast caner patients who had total vitamin D levels checked 3 months prior to or after their surgery. A total of 37,337 patients between the ages of 40 and 70 years who had had their vitamin D levels measured at the institute’s clinical labs served as the control group.
Investigators found breast cancer patients to have significantly lower mean vitamin D level than age-matched healthy control subjects, and that the odds of acquiring breast cancer were 2.5-fold greater with deficient vitamin D levels.
If you are at risk of developing breast cancer or a breast cancer patient, ask your doctors to check your vitamin D levels and correcting it as needed.
Source: American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS) 12th Annual Meeting: Abstract 1701. Presented April 29, 2011.
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