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Cedric F. Garland, DrPH, Frank C. Garland, PhD, Edward D. Gorham, PhD, MPH, Martin Lipkin, MD, Harold Newmark, ScD, Sharif B. Mohr, MPH and Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD

Cedric F. Garland, Frank C. Garland, and Edward D. Gorham are with the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego. Cedric F. Garland, Frank C. Garland, Edward D. Gorham, and Sharif B. Mohr are with the Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, Calif. Martin Lipkin is with the Strang Cancer Prevention Center, New York, NY. Harold Newmark is with the Laboratory for Cancer Research, Department of Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ. Michael F. Holick is with the Vitamin D Laboratory, Section of Endocrinology, Nutrition and Diabetes, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Cedric Garland, DrPH, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, 0631C, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093-0631 (e-mail: cgarland{at}ucsd.edu).

Vitamin D status differs by latitude and race, with residents of the northeastern United States and individuals with more skin pigmentation being at increased risk of deficiency. A PubMed database search yielded 63 observational studies of vitamin D status in relation to cancer risk, including 30 of colon, 13 of breast, 26 of prostate, and 7 of ovarian cancer, and several that assessed the association of vitamin D receptor genotype with cancer risk.

The majority of studies found a protective relationship between sufficient vitamin D status and lower risk of cancer. The evidence suggests that efforts to improve vitamin D status, for example by vitamin D supplementation, could reduce cancer incidence and mortality at low cost, with few or no adverse effects.

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