Low Vitamin D May Mean Worse Breast Cancer

More Aggressive Breast Cancer Linked to Vitamin D Deficiency

By AUDREY GRAYSON
ABC News Medical Unit
May 16, 2008

Vitamin D deficiencies have long been associated with disease, but new research suggests that low levels of vitamin D in women with breast cancer can lead to more aggressive forms of the disease, and even death.

Researchers at the University of Toronto studied the correlation between vitamin D levels in the blood, the rate of breast cancer metastases -- the incidence of having the cancer spread -- and the overall survival rates of 512 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1989 and 1995. The women were followed until 2006.

Researchers found for the first time that women who were vitamin D deficient at the time of their breast cancer diagnosis were 94 percent more likely to have their cancer spread, and 73 percent more likely to die from their cancer, compared with women who were not vitamin D deficient.

Moreover, researchers found that about 75 percent of the women had a vitamin D deficiency at the time of their diagnosis.

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