A new study has shown once again that patients who have lymphoma are more likely to die if they have low vitamin D levels.
At the recent American Society of Hematology meetings, a new study was presented showing this relationship.
From 2002 to 2008 the scientists evaluated vitamin D blood levels from 374 newly diagnosed patients with diffuse large B-Cell lymphoma. This type of lymphoma accounts for about 40% of all lymphomas.
The study showed that at diagnosis, half that patients were deficient in vitamin D. In this case the definition of deficiency was less than 25 ng /ml.
The patients were followed for an average of three years. During this follow-up time. those patients who were deficient in vitamin D were twice as likely to die compared with patients who had adequate vitamin D blood levels at the beginning of the study. In addition patients with low vitamin D levels were also about 50% more likely to have their cancers worsen.
Dr. Matthew Drake of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota presented this data.
He was quick to note that in his opinion more studies are needed before supplementation of vitamin D should be given to lymphoma patients.
My recommendations for all Americans is to take a higher dose of vitamin D. I would have no reservations in my practice of giving a lymphoma patient vitamin D. At worst it will do no good. Certainly it will do no harm.
Science News Article
About soram.khalsa
Board certified in Internal Medicine, Soram Khalsa, M.D., is a clinical professor of medicine and past chairman of the advisory committee for the Environmental Medicine Center of Excellence at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona. He is also a member of the Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine Advisory Council for the State of California and serves as medical director for the East-West Medical Research Institute. In 2007, Dr. Khalsa was chosen by his peers as one of the “Best Doctors” in America and serves in this capacity as a consultant for integrative medicine. Dr. Khalsa is a founding member of the American Holistic Medical Association, a founding member of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, and was a member of the Outside Scientific Advisory Board for the NIH-sponsored Center on Botanical Studies at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In his private medical practice, he integrates phytotherapeutics, nutrition, homeopathy, acupuncture, and environmental medicine with traditional Internal Medicine.
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