Epidemiology of disease risks in relation to vitamin D insufficiency.
Vitamin D from ultraviolet-B (UVB) irradiance, food, and supplements is receiving increased attention lately for its role in maintaining optimal health. Although the calcemic effects of vitamin D have been known for about a century, the non-calcemic effects have been studied intently only during the past two-three decades. The strongest links to the beneficial roles of UVB and vitamin D to date are for bone and muscle conditions and diseases. There is also a preponderance of evidence from a variety of studies that vitamin D reduces the risk of colon cancer, with 1000 IU/day of vitamin D or serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels >33 ng/mL (82 nmol/L) associated with a 50% lower incidence of colorectal cancer. There is also reasonable evidence that vitamin D reduces the risk of breast, lung, ovarian, and prostate cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. There is weaker, primarily ecologic, evidence for the role of vitamin D in reducing the risk of an additional dozen types of cancer. There is reasonably strong ecologic and case-control evidence that vitamin D reduces the risk of autoimmune diseases including such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes mellitus, and weaker evidence for rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and stroke. It is noted that mechanisms whereby vitamin D exerts its effect are generally well understood for the various conditions and diseases discussed here.
Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center (SUNARC), 2107 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 403B, San Francisco, CA 94109-2529, USA. wgrant@sunarc.org
William B
WB
Grant
D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D001847:Bone Diseases / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015984:Causality; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control
D014807:Vitamin D