Further Evidence on the Benefits of Vitamin D: Notes from a San Francisco Bay Area Dermatologist

We continue to hear more and more about Vitamin D.  Dermatologists have for years counseled their patients to practice rigorous sun protection, which may contribute to low vitamin D levels in certain patients.  Now we are encouraging vitamin D supplementation as a way to raise vitamin D levels.

As highlighted in Dermatology Times, the UK’s Telegraph (9/22, Devlin) reported that patients with colon cancer “who had higher levels of vitamin D…when diagnosed with colon cancer were 50 percent more likely to survive than those with low levels,” according to a study appearing in the British Journal of Cancer. Meanwhile, a second study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, showed that “patients who had high levels of the vitamin when they were diagnosed with skin cancer were more likely to have thinner tumors.” Meanwhile, “skin cancer patients who had the lowest levels of vitamin D in their blood when they were diagnosed were almost a third more likely to relapse than those with high levels,” researchers found.

This study correlates higher levels of vitamin D with increased survival from colon cancer and a better prognosis with skin cancers.  The sun is not needed to get adequate vitamin D. Vitamin D supplementation is widely available in oral form and  I recommend 1000-1500 mu of vitamin D  a day along with 1000mg mg  of Calcium  a day . Vitamin D testing is now available and may be recommended for you by your primary care doctor or dermatologist.

Tags: colon cancer, Dermatologist, san francisco bay area dermatologist, skin cancer, vitamin d

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 pm and is filed under Skin Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.