Vitamin D is an effective treatment for prostate cancer in some patients, a UK study suggests.
A once daily dose reduced PSA level – an indicator of severity of disease – by as much as half in 20% of patients.
There has been much interest in vitamin D in prostate cancer after studies linking risk of the disease to sunlight exposure, the researchers said.
One expert agreed the findings were encouraging but said it needed to be tested in a bigger population.
The trial – results of which are due to be published in the journal BJU International – was set up after one patient got better when his wife bought him some vitamin D tablets.
Professor Jonathan Waxman, said the example had prompted him to assess the effects in a wider group of patients.
April 28, 2009
