Having adequate levels of vitamin D is important for many different aspects of health.
Could You Have a Vitamin D Deficiency?
How does a person get vitamin D naturally?
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Older adults are thought to be at greater risk of developing vitamin D insufficiency for several reasons.
With age, the skin cannot make vitamin D as vigorously as it once did.
Some foods are fortified with vitamin D, which helps the cause.
Fatty fish and cod liver oil are also good natural sources.
What’s more, sunbathing to get adequate vitamin D may not be practical for many people.
So people may need to take avitamin D supplementto correct a deficiency.
Does Vitamin D Prevent Cancer?
Theres reason to be hopeful, but many questions remain unanswered.
Studies on vitamin D for the prevention of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers have yielded inconsistent results.
Whats the Link Between Vitamin D and Blood Cancers?
But these studies look backward, so it can be hard to tell cause from effect.
Might vitamin D be used to increase the power of certain cancer therapies?
This remains an open question, but data are encouraging.
Vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for elderly patients with DLBCL treated withR-CHOP, the authors noted.
They found evidence that vitamin D deficiency impairs the cancer-cell killing action of rituximab.
Drake MT, Maurer MJ, Link BK, et.
al.Vitamin D insufficiency and prognosis in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.J Clin Oncol.
2012;13(1):31-38.
