Abstract
Background/Aim: This paper reviews ecological studies of the ultraviolet-B (UVB)–vitamin D–cancer hypothesis based on geographical variation of cancer incidence and/or mortality rates. Materials and Methods: The review is based largely on three ecological studies of cancer rates from the United States; one each from Australia, China, France, Japan, and Spain; and eight multicountry, multifactorial studies of cancer incidence rates from more than 100 countries. Results: This review consistently found strong inverse correlations with solar UVB for 15 types of cancer: bladder, breast, cervical, colon, endometrial, esophageal, gastric, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, rectal, renal, and vulvar cancer; and Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Weaker evidence exists for nine other types of cancer: brain, gallbladder, laryngeal, oral/pharyngeal, prostate, and thyroid cancer; leukemia; melanoma; and multiple myeloma. Conclusion: The evidence for the UVB–vitamin D–cancer hypothesis is very strong in general and for many types of cancer in particular.
- Cancer
- case-control studies
- ecological
- melanoma
- 25-hydroxyvitamin D
- ultraviolet-B
- vitamin D
- mortality rates
- review
Footnotes
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Disclosure
Funding was received from the UV Foundation (McLean, VA), Bio-Tech-Pharmacal (Fayetteville, AR), the Vitamin D Council (San Luis Obispo, CA), and the Vitamin D Society (Canada).
- Received September 5, 2011.
- Revision received November 3, 2011.
- Accepted November 4, 2011.
- Copyright© 2012 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved