A new research shows cigarette smokers with low levels of vitamin D are exposed to tobacco related cancer, according to Science Daily.
The study demonstrates how smokers with decreased levels of Vitamin D in their body are at a higher risk of developing tobacco-related cancer. Smoking has adverse effect on the overall health of a human being which results in various kinds of disease. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 443,000 deaths are caused from cigarette smoking in the United States. It says further that most of the deaths in the U.S. are caused from smoking than any other lethal disease including HIV, alcohol, drug use, accidents, suicides and murders combined. Smoking could lead to several types of cancers including Acute myeloid leukemia, Bladder cancer, Kidney cancer, Lung cancer, Pancreatic cancer, Stomach cancer and others, says the report.
For the study, blood samples of 10,000 Danes from general population collected between 1981 and 1983 was used. Afzal et al. calculated the total plasma Vitamin D levels from these samples. Researchers followed up on the study through Danish Cancer Registry for 28 years.
Researchers noted that 1,081 participants developed tobacco related cancer. Researchers measured their levels of plasma Vitamin D and found that these participants had only 14.8 nanograms per millilitre, versus the higher 16.4 nanograms per millilitre median concentration which was found among the rest of the participants.
The authors concluded that low levels of Vitamin D were linked to tobacco-related cancer. The study also helped in understanding tobacco smoking influences Vitamin D metabolism and function. Researchers also noted that low levels of Vitamin D were not associated with any other type of cancers.
"Our analyses show that the association between lower concentrations of plasma vitamin D and higher risk of cancer may be driven by tobacco-related cancer as a group, which has not been shown before," stated author Børge G. Nordestgaard, MD, DMSc, in the paper. "This is important for future studies investigating the association between plasma vitamin D and risk of cancer."
The findings of the study are published online in Clinical Chemistry, the journal of The American Association for Clinical Chemistry.
