The researcher, led by John White and David Goltzman, both professors in the Department of Physiology, found that active vitamin D reduces production and function of the cancer promoting protein cMYC by multiple mechanisms. cMYC promotes cell proliferation and is deregulated in over half of all cancers. The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (updated April 10, 2024).
Recently, there is a tendency toward the expansion of interest in the possible role of vitamin D in health promotion and disease prevention. Earlier reports have associated vitamin D deficiency with an increased risk of a number of malignancies and cardiovascular disease.
Stephen B. Kritchevsky, PhD, professor of medicine and translational science at Wake Forest School of Medicine, identified a strong link between vitamin D deficiency and these two outcomes.
“We observed vitamin D insufficiency (defined as blood levels <20 ng/ml), in one third of our study participants. This was associated with nearly a 50 percent increase in the mortality rate in older adults,” Kritchevsky said. “Our findings suggest that low levels of vitamin D may be a substantial public health concern for our nation’s older adults.”
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