Studies have shown that vitamin D supplements can help prevent melanoma, a fatal skin cancer.
News Medical Life Sciences, a medical news portal, reported on the 16th that a research team led by a dermatologist Ilka Harbima at Finland's Eastern University Medical School analyzed the medical records of 498 outpatients at Kuopio University Hospital.
These were people at high risk for skin cancer such as basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer, and melanoma. Basal cell cancer and squamous cell cancer are not life-threatening cancers because cancer cells rarely spread to other areas, but melanoma is fatal because cancer cells metastasize.
The research team classified them into low-medium-high-risk groups according to the risk of skin cancer. In addition, the research team divided them into three groups: those who regularly take vitamin D supplements, those who take them occasionally, and those who do not.
The research team measured the blood level of calcidiol, a metabolite of vitamin D, in half of them to see if they were actually taking vitamin D supplements. As a result of the overall analysis, it was found that those who regularly take vitamin D supplements had a significantly lower incidence of melanoma than those who did not.
Logistic regression analysis, a statistical technique used to predict the likelihood of events, found that regular users of vitamin D supplements had a 50% lower risk of melanoma than non-users.
Those who take vitamin D regularly also had a much lower risk of skin cancer than those who do not. People who take vitamin D supplements occasionally also had a lower incidence of melanoma than those who do not.
However, basal cell cancer and squamous cell cancer were not associated with taking vitamin D supplements. The research team said that photoaging, actinic keratoses, and severity of pigmented placenta, which age the skin such as the face due to ultraviolet rays, were also not related to taking vitamin D supplements.
Vitamin D is synthesized in the body through the skin exposed to the sun's ultraviolet rays. Through exposure to sunlight, 90% of vitamin D is supplied to our body. Among the foods, it is contained in oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel), liver, egg yolk, and cheese, and can also be consumed through vitamin D-added cereals, milk, and vitamin D supplements.
Writer: Yeyoung Jeon
(Picture from Unsplash)
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