Of all the controversies surrounding cancer, the role of Vitamin D is one of the most contentious. It has been known for years that this essential nutrient is produced in the body when it is exposed to sunlight. It can also come from our diets, but most people do not eat enough fish to make the amount we need for healthy bones.
The public health messages about avoiding too much sunlight have been criticised in the past few years by those who believe we have to expose ourselves a bit in order to make Vitamin D. Some doctors believe the medical community has been unwilling to accept evidence that the vitamin can play a significant role in protecting against bowel cancer and other diseases, and that the ’safe sun’ messages have been overplayed. According to Professor Lesley Rhodes, whose work in Manchester is funded by Cancer Research UK, people may not need too much sunlight to make the nutrient. ‘Sunlight is important, but after a while our ability to make Vitamin D is switched off. We think that it may be just ten to 15 minutes you need to get the full benefits of the sun, before you start to burn.’
A daily dose of aspirin reduces a woman’s chance of developing a particular type of breast cancer by 16%, according to a study of more than 126,000 women.
The latest research backs up a review of 21 studies which found that anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin reduce breast cancer risk by up to 20%. About 45,000 women a year in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer.
In the new study, Dr Gretchen Gierach and colleagues at the US National Institutes of Health in Rockville, Maryland, studied 126,124 women aged between 51 and 72. When the study started, none of the volunteers had breast cancer. During follow-ups between 1995 and 2003, 4,501 of the women developed breast cancer. The team found that women who took aspirin daily were 16% less likely to develop so-called oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Around three-quarters of breast cancers are oestrogen receptor positive.
Contrary to previous research, the study did not find a reduction in breast cancer risk overall in the group of women who used aspirin regularly, and did not find that other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduced breast cancer risk.
Aspirin is thought to influence cancers by blocking the action of an enzyme called cyclooxygenase. This in turn lowers the amount of oestrogen in the body. The results are reported in the journal Breast Cancer Research.
Liz Baker, science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said anyone considering taking aspirin regularly should consult their doctor first. “Weighing up the risks and benefits, it’s too soon to recommend aspirin as a way of reducing the risk of cancer.”
In a separate study, researchers have found that having a child appears to give mothers some protection against breast cancer.
Dr VK Gadi, at the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues found that stem cells left behind in the mother by the foetus appear to make her less likely to develop breast cancer.
The study is reported in New Scientist magazine.
Trudy Forte discusses her work developing nano-sized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles that can be used as a safe and effective means of delivering anticancer drugs to brain tumors, particularly the most common malignant brain tumor in adults and one of the deadliest forms of cancer.
