Vitamin D May Reduce the Risk of Colon Cancer.

Study Touts the Benefits of the Supplement. 

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) released a report last week touting the benefits of vitamin D, appearing to be positively linked to lower risks of colorectal cancer.  Though a link exists, researchers can not say that higher intake of the vitamin actually prevents the disease.

Though unlikely that it in-and-of-itself solely prevents the disease, scientists found that those with the highest levels of vitamin D in their blood had as much as a 40 percent lower risk for developing colorectal cancer than those with the lowest levels.

The conclusion is based on a study of more than 520,000 people from 10 countries in Western Europe. The study participants gave blood samples and filled out diet and lifestyle questionnaires between 1992 and 1998. They were then tracked for several more years to see what happened to them.

During the follow-up period, 1,248 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. These participants were compared with a similar group of 1,248 people who were not diagnosed with the disease.

While true wellness is really a combination of living well physically, emotionally, and perhaps spiritually, diet and exercise are usually the easiest components of wellness to study, because they are the easiest to measure and modify.

The study authors noted that current recommendations for preventing colorectal cancer include exercising, not smoking, reducing obesity and abdominal fat, and limiting consumption of alcohol and red and processed meats.