Taking Vitamin D and Calcium supplements does not prevent colon growths

Till now, many studies have shown link between vitamin D and calcium supplements and colon cancer prevention.

Around 2, 200 adults took part in the trials of supplementation with vitamin d and calcium, at 11 academic medical centers and affiliated medical practices. Women could elect to be randomly assigned to receive either calcium or calcium plus vitamin D or placebo.

One of the researchers on the team, Dr. John Baron of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told CBS News that the results were a “big surprise”. Studies have suggested that the risk for developing colorectal cancer can be reduced by having a low-fat, high-fiber diet, doing regular exercise and avoiding alcohol consumption, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researches reported that they found new cancerous growths in patients that had had them removed in the past despite them taking calcium or vitamin D supplements.

“We can say with a few confidence that at this (1,000 IU) dose, which is a very commonly used dose now, vitamin D does not affect colorectal carcinogenesis”, Baron said.

Aspirin is thought to help prevent polyps and colon cancer with long-term use, but it also can cause serious bleeding.

Overall, though, the authors write that they have “no ready explanation” for these negative findings that seem to controvert the promise of many previously published studies. However, a new study challenges this claim, saying that vitamin D and calcium do not stop the growth of colon polyps at all.

The researchers added that while vitamin D and calcium can work later work in preventing lethal cancers, they hardly work on the “precancerous predecessors”.

Volunteers were gathered into three groups where the first group’s participants received vitamin D, second group received calcium carbonate and third group’s participants were given other vitamin D plus calcium.

Higher doses of vitamin D might make a difference, but this would have to be tested in a new study, and this one already tested a higher level than the 600 IUs a day (800 for people over 70) that the Institute of Medicine recommends, Baron said. The team also adjusted the results for income, sex, age, substance abuse & other risks & the results stayed the same. The National Cancer Institute sponsored it and Pfizer Consumer Healthcare provided the pills. The researchers found that a new polyp developed in 43 to 45 percent of the participants regardless of whether they had taken the supplement or not.