Originally published July 30 2005
Vitamin D aids in recovery from lung cancer surgery
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A new study from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston states that patients who had a higher level of vitamin D in their bloodstream after lung cancer surgery have a better survival rate.
Lung Cancer and IPF: Distinct But Sometimes Concurrent Lung cancer is a disease that can occur simultaneously with a scarring condition of the lung known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), though they are two distinct pathologies.2 The frequency of these two diseases occurring at the same time ranges from about 5% in the United States to nearly 50% of cases in Japan.
The former is more common and grows more slowly.
It is also less likely to spread to other parts of the body than small cell lung cancer.
Those who smoke cigarettes, cigars, and pipes are at risk for the disease.
But exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, such as that in the air when someone else smokes, as well as to radon gas are also risk factors.
The prognosis for patients is generally poor, although those who are younger, female, have milder shortness of breath, and respond better to therapy have better odds of survival.
The study team looked at two separate outcomes in the study: outcome based on vitamin D consumption from food and supplements, derived from questionnaires given to 321 patients, and outcomes based on the season in which surgery was performed (In summer, more amounts of sunlight increase vitamin D intake compared to the winter months).
Five-year survival odds were 54% for those who had surgery in the winter, 56% for those who underwent surgery in the spring or fall, but 70% for patients who had surgery in the summer.
Combined Effect Even Better They then looked at the patients' chances of survival when vitamin D consumption from food or supplements was combined with surgery in the summer months.
"Animal studies have shown that treatment of cancer with vitamin D demonstrates both anti-proliferative and anti-invasive properties," Zhou explained.
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