Vitamin D may reduce pancreatic cancer risk

New York -- Vitamin D tablets may help reduce pancreatic cancer, says a study. But scientists warn that people should not start popping vitamin D supplements to ward off the disease.

Vitamin D helps the body to form and maintain strong bones by encouraging the body to absorb calcium. Previous studies have shown that Vitamin D may help in cutting the risk of prostate, breast and colon cancer.

Scientists led by Hal Skinner at Northwestern University in Illinois examined data on over 120,000 people from two large, long-term health surveys and found that taking the US Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamin D (400 IU/day) may reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer by 43 percent, reported the online of BBC News.

There are more than 3,600 new cases of pancreatic cancer in women and over 3,500 in men in Britain each year. Surgery is not often effective.

Except for smoking, no environmental factors or dietary factors have been linked to pancreatic cancer. But previous studies have suggested that vitamin D might help to block the proliferation of cancer cells.

And pancreatic tissues - both normal and cancerous - have been found to contain high levels of an enzyme that converts vitamin D into its active form.

However, scientists said further research was necessary before prescribing vitamin supplements to cut cancer risk. They added that people should not take vitamin D supplements to ward off pancreatic cancer, especially as vitamin D could be harmful in large quantities.