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AWARE, THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PROSTATE CANCER COALITION, IN VOLUME 4, NUMBER 146, PUBLISHED TUESDAY, MAY 29,2008 OUTLINES A NEW STUDY THAT CALLS INTO QUESTION THE EFFICACY OF VITAMIN D. IT IS A REPORT FROM THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE.
This article was discussed on another List and these are some of the comments from Dr Charles Myer, a well known doctor who specialises in PCa and nutrition.
"The simple answer is that this is not a treatment or prevention study in any real sense. They did not take a group of men and randomize them to placebo vs Vitamin D and look for a result. Instead, they took people who were on vitamin D and found a comparison group not on Vitamin D and looked at what happened. In my view, studies like this can never be conclusive, but just provide a hypothesis that needs to be tested in properly designed clinical trials. In fact, there are already so many population based studies of this sort on Vitamin D that this really adds nothing to the literature. At this point, we need prospective clinical trials that treat Vitamin d just as if it were a drug undergoing development and where we needed to prove whether or not the agent is active."
The broader message is that whilst it is important to be aware of what studies are being done and published, they are not always what we think they might be.
I take 2400 IU Vitamin D each day but not due to any belief of curative effect. Along with 2000mg Calcium supplement my intent is to help mitigate any bone loss after 19 months of leuprolide.
