Vitamin D reduces the risk of cancer

International medical researchers in Denmark, along with others at the Francis Crick Institute in London and the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, USA, have found scientific answers to the link between getting vitamin D through food or sunlight and preventing infection. with cancer in humans.

According to the journal Science, researchers conducted experiments on the effect of vitamin D on the gut bacteria of mice, which were given to improve the immune system’s activity against tumors, and then subjected about one and a half million Danes to experiments on the effect of high levels of the vitamin in the blood, and found that the subjects were less likely to develop cancer.
Tina Yes, head of the Oncology Research Center at Aalborg University in Denmark, who played a key role in the research: “Census shows that vitamin D deficiency affects people more with cancer, and this has been proven after conducting experiments. In humans, increasing the vitamin improves immune therapy “and has the potential to prevent cancer.”
Scientists have discovered that the link between vitamin D and tumors lies in the bacteria Bacteroides fragilis, which occurs naturally in the human gut, and that the interaction between this bacteria and vitamin D improves resistance to cancer and increases therapeutic immunity.
To confirm this, researchers transplanted cells from mice high in vitamin D into those lacking the vitamin in their diet, and the results showed an improvement in the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. “Current research reinforces the hypothesis that vitamin D may prevent cancer,” said Ulf Bori Pedersen, professor of medicine at the University of Copenhagen.
“Danish scientists were among the first to document, in experiments on mice, the use of vitamin D in gut bacteria to strengthen the immune system against cancer,” says his research colleague Tina Yes.
Tina Yes collaborated with researchers from the American Harvard University, the French Sorbonne University and the British Imperial College University to find out what causes vitamin D deficiency in the human body based on the incidence of cancer types.

While researchers link sunlight and skin production of vitamin D, Professor Berthor Stratton, a pioneer in the development of immunotherapy at the University of Copenhagen, said, “The recent results are interesting, especially in terms of the relationship between the composition of bacteria. In the gut and the extent to which cancer patients respond to treatment, but he added: ” It is not new to scientists that vitamin D can alter the composition of the bacterial community, creating immunotherapy in cancer patients. Very useful.”
Aalborg University scientists explain that they focused on about 739 bacterial species before moving on to substrains that affect the spread of cancer to find the molecules they produce.
The prevalence of cancer in northern European communities suffering from chronic lack of sunlight has prompted scientists and researchers to improve their diets and include fatty fish, dairy products or nutritional supplements to prevent cancer at times of exposure to sunlight that are considered benign. The researchers cite the Mediterranean lifestyle and point to the need for Northern Europeans to change their daily habits in terms of diet and sun exposure.

Because of the longer sunsets in northern Europe, health officials advise residents to take 5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D supplements daily during the sunless months and to give vitamin drops to children. , pregnant and lactating women also get it, and those not exposed to sunlight should take vitamin D supplements.
Although certain foods such as herring, mackerel, salmon, eggs and dairy products provide adequate amounts of the vitamin to humans, a person’s requirement cannot be met from food alone, rather, he must obtain it through sunlight or supplements as recommended by the Danish Health Authority and the Cancer Control Association in Norway. .
Prof. Pedersen believes, “People should be careful not to develop a vitamin D deficiency, and if a deficiency does appear, a person does not need to rush to the pharmacy to buy vitamins, because it is enough to eat cheese and fish several times. A week to compensate for the deficiency, and vitamin D through moderate sunbathing.” Summer should be used to increase availability.