Supplementation Scientists have estimated that supplementing the over-50 population in Germany with sufficient vitamin D would save 30 000 lives which would otherwise be lost to cancer, gaining some 300 000 extra years of life, all while reducing healthcare costs.
Vitamin D is created in the body through the interaction of UV-B radiation with dehydrocholesterol, which is produced in the skin, into vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). In many countries, populations have chronically low vitamin D levels due to more time being spent indoors. Vitamin D supplementation is associated with the prevention and treatment of nutritional rickets and osteomalacia, but it is important for other aspects of health such as prevention of respiratory tract infections and asthma. In countries such as Germany, low sunlight levels for much of the year combined with more time spent indoors results in much of the population having inadequate vitamin D levels.
Three large meta-analyses had indicated that mortality due to cancer is reduced by 13% with vitamin D supplementation.
“In many countries around the world, the age-adjusted rate of cancer mortality has fortunately declined over the past decade,” said Hermann Brenner, epidemiologist at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ). However, given the often considerable costs of many new cancer drugs, this success has often come at a high price. Vitamin D, on the other hand, is comparatively inexpensive in the usual daily doses.”
To get their figures, the scientists used a daily administration of 1000 international units of vitamin D, costing 25 Euros per person per year. Since about 36 million people over the age of 50 live in Germany, this results in an annual cost of 900 million Euros.
The researchers calculated the number of years lost to cancer death, and also did not account for testing of vitamin D levels, as the proposed 1000 international units were far short of an overdose danger. The study estimated that if the entire German population over the age 50 were given sufficient supplements to achieve the recommended levels of vitamin D, 30 000 cancers deaths annually would be prevented.
“In view of the potentially significant positive effects on cancer mortality – additionally combined with a possible cost-saving – we should look for new ways to reduce the widespread vitamin D deficiency in the elderly population in Germany. In some countries, foods have even been enriched with vitamin D for many years – for example, in Finland, where cancer mortality rates are about 20 percent lower than in Germany. Not to mention that there is mounting evidence of other positive health effects of adequate vitamin D supply, such as in lung disease mortality rates,” said Brenner, adding, “Finally, we consider vitamin D supplementation so safe that we even recommend it for newborn babies to develop healthy bones.”
Spending about 12 minutes two to three times a week in the sun, with face, hands and parts of the arms and legs all uncovered and without sunscreen is sufficient to provide enough vitamin D.
Source: News-Medical.Net
Journal information: Niedermaier, T., et al. (2021) Vitamin D supplementation to the older adult population in Germany has the cost‐saving potential of preventing almost 30,000 cancer deaths per year. Molecular Oncology. doi.org/10.1002/1878-0261.12924.
