Women with more-natural vitamin D levels are 47 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who are vitamin D deficient, according to a new International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) case-control study on the topic. Published in the journal Cancer Causes and Control, the peer-reviewed study is yet another showing this association.

“Specifically, women with higher levels (greater than 30 ng/mL of 25(OH)D) were 47 percent less likely to develop breast cancer, compared to those with serum vitamin D 25(OH)D below 20 ng/mL. In premenopausal women, the risk reduction was 40 percent and in postmenopausal women, the risk was cut by 63 percent,” Dr. David Liu wrote in www.FoodConsumer.org this week. “The researchers concluded ‘The results of this large population-based case-control study indicate an inverse association between circulating vitamin D levels and breast cancer risk among pre- and postmenopausal Mexican women.’”

Breast cancer is expected to be diagnosed in more than 220,000 women in the United States in 2012 and the disease is expected to kill about 40,000 women annually in the country, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with high risk of 17 malignancies including breast cancer, according to Vitamin D Council. Previous research suggests that overall, 70 percent of breast cancer cases could be prevented if sufficient vitamin D is maintained by taking vitamin D supplements or sufficient exposure to the sun,” Liu wrote.

To read Liu’s article on the study click here.