Aggressive Prostate Cancer Caused by Low Vitamin D, Research Says

Men with vitamin D deficiency are more likely to acquire aggressive prostate cancer, according to research. The study was made to about 200 men who have undergone prostatectomy.

According to Health Day, research found that men with low vitamin D levels are susceptible in growing tumors compared to those who have normal levels of "sunshine" vitamin.

"If men with vitamin D deficiency are more likely to have [more advanced disease] at the time of prostate surgery, then perhaps men should be tested for this when they are diagnosed with prostate cancer and subsequently supplemented with vitamin D if they are deficient," said researcher Dr. Adam Murphy, an assistant urology professor at the Northwestern University in Chicago.

Tumor cells that have started to migrate outside of the prostate result to aggressive prostate cancer. High Gleason score indicates that the tumor tissue is very different from normal tissue and it is more likely to spread. Low Gleason score prostate tumors have tissue that resembles normal tissue, as reported by Medical News Today.

Men who are diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer had a 22.7 ng/mL vitamin D level which is completely lower than the 30 ng/mL considered as normal. Men who did not have aggressive prostate cancer have 27 ng/mL.

Murphy noted that the average vitamin D level in Chicago during winter is around 25 ng/mL. Vitamin D is essential to bone health and since is can be a biomarker of other diseases, "All men should be replenishing their vitamin D to normal levels. It's smart preventive health care," he said.

However, another expert did not completely agree with Murphy's research. According to Dr. Anthony D'Amico, chief of radiation oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston stated that the research cannot prove that vitamin D deficiency triggers prostate cancer just because they are connected.

But he thinks that the results are crucial to conducting more studies into possible connection between the vitamin and the disease. "It's a hypothesis that's worth testing," he said.

D'Amico, however, does not think that vitamin D supplements can prevent prostate cancer or at least make is less aggressive since there is no enough evidence to prove the study.