Breast cancer is an unforgiving disease that reportedly kills more than five lakh women every single year across the globe. According to Globocan data (International Agency for Research on Cancer), India is on top of the table with 1.85 million years of healthy life lost due to breast cancer. ‘Healthy life lost’ is defined by years lost due to premature death and being incapacitated by the effects of breast cancer. It is estimated that the number of new cases of breast cancer in India will increase from the current 1,45,000 to around 2,14,000 per year over the next decade and a half.
But breast cancer and the likelihood of developing it is not an inevitable risk dictated purely by chance, as latest science on the subject reveals that Vitamin D deficiency may be a major causative factor in breast cancer development. Like many other cells in the body, breast tissue cells bear special surface receptors that are designed to absorb Vitamin D. When this pro-hormone attaches itself to these receptors, it essentially instructs breast cells how to behave, including how to divide and replicate in a healthy manner. Conversely, this same mechanistic action is believed to help protect breast cells against malignant mutations.
“There are Vitamin D receptors in breast tissue, and Vitamin D can bind to these receptors. This can cause cells like oncogenes to die or stop growing, and can stop the cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body. Therefore, it is thought that Vitamin D may help in protecting against breast cancer, by making cells in the breast smarter,” says the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit organisation in the US, working to educate the public on Vitamin D, sun exposure and health.
The most effective cure for breast cancer, in other words, is to avoid developing it in the first place, something that may be achieved by consistently maintaining high blood levels of Vitamin D. A growing body of evidence suggests that there is a dose-response relationship between Vitamin D and breast cancer risk, meaning that the higher one’s Vitamin D level is, the lower her risk of developing breast cancer.
A meta-analysis of 14 different studies that was recently published in the journal Tumor Biology, for instance, observed a consistent dose-response relationship between Vitamin D and breast cancer risk. Based on data covering more than 9,000 breast cancer patients and more than 16,000 controls, researchers found that for every subsequent increase in blood serum Vitamin D, a woman’s risk of breast cancer decreases by a significant amount.
For those women who already have breast cancer, or who were previously diagnosed with breast cancer, the scientific literature suggests that vitamin D is beneficial for them as well. Though no actual studies have been conducted on Vitamin D as a sole treatment for cancer, studies looking at Vitamin D levels among breast cancer patients are quite revealing as to the medicinal potential of this powerful pro-hormone.
“In a review of many studies, researchers found that women with breast cancer who had low Vitamin D levels had more than doubled the risk of their cancer coming back, and an almost doubled risk of death compared to women with high Vitamin D levels,” adds the Vitamin D Council.
EP News Bureau – Mumbai