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Review
. 2014 May;14(5):342-57.
doi: 10.1038/nrc3691. Epub 2014 Apr 4.

The role of vitamin D in reducing cancer risk and progression

David Feldman  1 , Aruna V Krishnan  1 , Srilatha Swami  1 , Edward Giovannucci  2 , Brian J Feldman  3
Affiliations
Review

The role of vitamin D in reducing cancer risk and progression

David Feldman et al. Nat Rev Cancer. 2014 May.

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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