Research reports published in the Journal of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention show that there is a negative correlation between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25 (OH) D] levels and liver cancer risk and chronic liver disease mortality To associate. Gabriel Y. Lai, author of the Department of Cancer Control and Population Science at the National Cancer Institute, and colleagues say that there has been a link between reduced vitamin D levels and chronic liver disease and liver cancer observed in laboratory studies, but there has been little epidemiology Research assesses these associations.
The study included 854 male Finnish smokers who participated in alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene cancer prevention studies and measured vitamin D levels from their serum samples. During nearly 25 years of follow-up, 202 patients were diagnosed with liver cancer and 225 patients died of liver disease. 427 subjects without liver disease or liver cancer served as controls. Among subjects with a serum 25 (OH) D concentration of less than 10 ng / mL (ng / mL), the risk of liver cancer increased by 91% compared with those with a concentration level greater than 20 ng / mL, chronic The risk of liver disease death increased by 67%.
“Our results suggest that vitamin D may have a preventive effect on liver cancer and chronic liver disease,” Dr. Lai and colleagues concluded. “Future studies need to assess the relationship between vitamin D and liver cancer and liver disease in other populations, especially those with different Risk factors.”
