Vitamin D intake ‘may reduce cancer mortality in the population by 15%’

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Data gathered from the UK Biobank, an online database of medical and lifestyle records of around 500,000 Britons, indicates vitamin D deficiency is linked to an increased cancer mortality risk – particularly in relation to bowel, stomach, prostate, and lung cancers. Study author Ben Schottker, an epidemiologist at the German Cancer Research Centre, said: “Our findings identified a statistically significant relationship between vitamin D deficiency and increased mortality among several cancers. Older people, the housebound and people from black and South Asian communities are more likely to have lower levels of vitamin D. Our findings identified a statistically significant relationship between vitamin D deficiency and increased mortality among several cancers Ben Schottker For the study, the researchers looked at data from more than 400,000 people aged 40–69. Results showed that vitamin D supplement users had 15% lower total cancer mortality and 25% lower lung cancer mortality compared to those who did not take the supplement.