A new European review has found that having a good vitamin D level may be linked with a lower risk of certain cancers.
The article, which was published in the journal Seminars in Cancer Biology, says that studies which have looked into the effect of the vitamin on different types of cancers suggest that a 'good' vitamin D level, measured as the level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the blood, could be particularly beneficial for reducing the risk of colorectal cancer and blood cancers, such as leukemias and lymphomas.
The researchers explain that vitamin D is important both for the functioning of blood cells and adult stem cells in rapidly regenerating tissues, such as colon or skin. If vitamin D levels are too low then the cells function at a suboptimal level, which may lead to them to turn into uncontrolled growing cancer cells.