--- title: Cancer and Vitamin D: What You Need to Know description: The latest research suggests that vitamin D may play a role in reducing the risk of cancer, but more research is needed canonical: https://time.com/4714335/vitamin-d-supplement-calcium-cancer/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-28T15:00:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:29.664Z article:section: Health og:title: What You Need to Know About Vitamin D and Cancer og:description: Vitamin D might help reduce the risk of cancer, but more research is needed og:url: https://time.com/4714335/vitamin-d-supplement-calcium-cancer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf54498e4691272d2/6988c0120a4a2229a09cd6dd/vitamin-d-capsules.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5300 og:image:height: 2981 og:image:alt: Vitamin D capsules og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What You Need to Know About Vitamin D and Cancer twitter:description: Vitamin D might help reduce the risk of cancer, but more research is needed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf54498e4691272d2/6988c0120a4a2229a09cd6dd/vitamin-d-capsules.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What You Need to Know About Vitamin D and Cancer > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Choosing to Wait: A New Approach to Treating Breast Cancer at Its Earliest Stages [Watch (HLS stream): Choosing to Wait: A New Approach to Treating Breast Cancer at Its Earliest Stages](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qPQnIqEX.m3u8) (5:56)  _Published 2015-10-01. Colletti, 60, was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), also known as Stage 0 breast cancer, in April 2014. But rather than immediately having surgery, Colletti opted for a new form of alternative treatment: active surveillance._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Mar 28, 2017 3:00 PM UTC  Vitamin D capsules tablets Vitamin D capsules tablets Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Mar 28, 2017 3:00 PM UTC [Vitamin D](http://time.com/3761581/vitamin-d-deficiency/) helps build healthy bones, but that’s not all it can do. More recent data point to other potential benefits, including [staving off dementia](http://time.com/3089339/study-research-vitamin-d-deficiency-dementia-alzheimers/) and protecting against certain cancers, such as colon and [breast cancer](http://time.com/16148/vitamin-d-may-double-chances-of-surviving-breast-cancer/). But how strong is the evidence? In a new [study published in _JAMA_](http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2017.2115), Joan Lappe, from the Creighton College of Nursing, and her colleagues randomly assigned about 2,300 women who had gone through menopause to take high doses of vitamin D or a placebo. They tracked the women for four years and look out for any cancer diagnoses. There were no differences in cancer rates between the two groups, but Lappe says that doesn’t mean that vitamin D doesn’t have an effect on cancer. The women in the study tended to already have high levels of vitamin D in their blood—higher than about 80% of U.S. adults, she notes. Most of the women in the study, even in the placebo group, were taking vitamin D or calcium supplements to try to protect their bones and prevent falls and fractures. That means there may not be much difference in cancer outcomes between the group assigned placebo and the women taking the high doses of vitamin D supplements. Animal studies suggest a number of different ways that vitamin D could be working against cancer. The vitamin stimulates the immune system, which in turn can be activated to target cancer cells; vitamin D may also fight inflammation and other processes that can trigger tumor growth. “I still think the composite of all the evidence together strongly suggests some effect of vitamin D on decreasing cancer risk,” Lappe says. Not everyone is so encouraged, and many believe that more research on the topic is needed before vitamin D can be considered an anti-cancer weapon. Many cancers take years to develop, and even in the older population in the current study, a longer follow-up period may be necessary to see reliable trends in cancer rates. What cancer doctors do agree upon, however, is the fact that vitamin D’s potential link to cancer is worth investigating. Studies involving tens of thousands of people who will be assigned high doses of vitamin D or placebo and followed for cancer and heart disease outcomes are ongoing, and their results will continue to add to knowledge about whether vitamin D can be used to combat cancer. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] One of the best things about my job is that I see patients who have a potentially lethal diagnosis and I'm able to be part of what allows them to be cured of their disease. The flip side is that one of the least rewarding experiences I have Of. And when I see a patient who is so fearful and so not at peace with her own body that she feels that she has to do extraordinary things to be free of her anxiety of breast cancer. [ MUSIC ] My daughter's initial reaction was, [ MUSIC ] Mom, if it was me I'd take it out. You just get rid of it. My husband and I did a ton of research, and we reviewed studies, and all the information out there, and decided that really we don't have to have surgery. That it's not life- threatening, and I'll probably die from something else. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] So if you would If you felt a nodule or [ INAUDIBLE ] I'm fortunate to be on the early side of things where most of the patients I see have very early, very treatable problems and I think that's how I got interested in DCIS, because of all the so- called cancers that we diagnose now, DCIS is the very earliest form. [ MUSIC ] Active surveillance is very new. And for many people, both on the physician's side and the patient's side, it's a scary proposition. I'm certainly not condoning it for everyone. I'm not recommending that everyone with DCIS follow a path of active surveillance. But I think it should be considered in the context of all the options that patients have. All of us have different comfort levels of how far we're willing to go to be sure we don't die of this and that other disease. But we all die of something. And we can't prevent everything. [ MUSIC ] So in April of 2014 I was diagnosed with DCIS. When they gave me the diagnosis I initially felt a lot of dread, got sick to my stomach and just thought oh no so what is this going to lead to. My daughter's initial reaction was, mom, if it was me, I'd take it out. And that was initially how she felt until we discussed it. And when we talked about the risks of surgery and radiation treatments, and some of the things that can happen with that, and the fact that these are pre- cancerous cells that may just sit there and never do anything. She came around. So, DCIS stands for ductal carcinoma in situ. And the in situ part is that the cells, the abnormal cells are contained within the ducts of the breast Once the cells break out of the ducts its called an invasive cancer, and those are the cancers that can spread to the lymph nodes and can spread to other parts of the body and eventually cause mortality. [ SOUND ] There have been a couple of very important studies that have been published lately which have shown that for the very low risk DCIS Whether you ever operate on them, whether you do a lumpectomy or whether you do a mastectomy, the patients are equally likely to not die of breast cancer. So removing both your breasts at that phase really doesn't help a woman to live longer. And I feel that for some of those patients They see mastectomy as being a way to rid themselves of anxiety. And that makes me sad. I think there are much better ways to reduce anxiety than to do a pretty major operation after which you're never really going to be the same. And the side effects that patients have in terms of discomfort with themselves. Never feeling like they're whole again. A lot of the work that I do in clinic is being with patients at probably one of the most vulnerable and scary times of their lives. And to be part of that process and to see patients through that is incredibly rewarding. The initial fear that you have I think is just because you don't know what's going to happen, but you know if you read the studies And you look at the information out there, I don't feel afraid at all. I feel great about my decision. If options were given to women, more women would choose active surveillance, but because there's no options out there, people don't know to even ask. Ask. 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