Does Vitamin D Really Protect Against Colorectal Cancer?

It's been clear for many years that vitamin D helps keep bones strong, but studies have been inconclusive and conflicting about the vitamin's value in protecting against certain cancers, including colorectal cancer.

Now a large international study provides the strongest evidence yet that vitamin D may indeed be protective against colorectal cancer and that a deficiency may increase the risk of this cancer. The findings appear Thursday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

"For both men and women, deficient levels of vitamin D were associated with a 30 percent increased risk of colorectal cancer,", a nutritional epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society and study co-author. People who had higher circulating blood levels of vitamin Dabove the range deemed "sufficient," had a 22 percent lower risk, she says.