Low vitamin D levels may be associated with increased risk of breast cancer, experts say

May 4 () –

Low levels of vitamin D may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, according to the paper ‘Lifestyle and breast cancer. Actions before, during and after treatment’ of the Spanish Society of Senology and Breast Pathology (SESPM), with the collaboration of various companies, including Faes Farma.

The work, updated with the latest recommendations promoted by this medical society, covers the different epidemiological factors related to breast cancer and how these factors interact to condition the appearance and evolution of cancer or its interference with quality of life. of patients after having suffered it.

One of these topics refers to the relationship between vitamin D (also called hormone D) and this type of oncological pathology. “Various epidemiological investigations have been carried out that relate the levels of the D hormone with the risk of appearance of breast cancer, this being the most prevalent in women and it has come to be considered that up to 1 in 8 may develop this tumor malignant throughout his life,” José Luis Neyro, a member of the Bilbao Academy of Medical Sciences and senior consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Cruces University Hospital in Bilbao, points out in the document.

“There are serious epidemiological relationships and strong evidence showing that women with higher levels of vitamin D have a lower risk of developing breast cancer than those who are deficient,” he continues.

When it comes to vitamin D, its effects on bone tissue are the best known, although vitamin D is actually a complex hormonal system that exerts its action on practically all organs and tissues, since the receptor for vitamin D (VDR) is found in almost all cells in the body.

This is why vitamin D and cancer are closely linked. Specifically, different epidemiological studies have shown that in areas with greater exposure to UVB rays there is a lower incidence and mortality of up to 13 types of cancer, including breast, colon, ovarian and prostate1.

In this sense, the work has shown that vitamin D has activity through the vitamin D receptor (VDR) pathway on tumor cells and, indirectly, regulating their behavior. Specifically, when we talk about breast cancer, it has been observed that the VDR receptor seems to be important for its progression to metastasis and that low levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D could favor this progression.

“The determination of vitamin D levels should be an inexcusable part of the study of any woman with breast cancer and act, consequently, based on these levels, to supplement when necessary and for as long as necessary. margin of breast cancer, keep in mind that, as with other steroid hormones, its secretion decreases steadily beyond the age of 40-50,” they have said.