This just in:
Ilkka T. Harvima, MD, PhD, et al., from the Department of Dermatology, University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland, has filed a preliminary, but significant report, titled “regular vitamin D supplements may lower melanoma risk”.
The thrust of the paper is that ” Individuals who regularly take vitamin D supplements are significantly less likely to have a history of malignant melanoma or any type of skin cancers than non-users”.
The study, published December 28 in Melanoma Research, involved almost 500 individuals attending a dermatology clinic who reported on their use of vitamin D supplements.
Regular users had a significant 55% reduction in the odds of having a past or present melanoma diagnosis, while occasional use was associated with a nonsignificant 46% reduction. The reduction was similar for all skin cancer types.
Although Dr. Harvima’s report gives neither the dosage taken by “regular users”, nor the blood levels of vitamin D in the population studied, and although a proactive study of vitamin D is role in prevention of skin cancers should be done, I take this report as supporting my recommendation that we all should supplement vitamin D3 on a regular basis (please see the page on vitamin D).
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