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[Rogerdodger]

From The Times
August 4, 2007
Sunshine helps in the fight against breast cancer.
Women who stay out of the sun are increasing their risk of developing breast cancer, a new study suggests.
The majority of vitamin D comes from exposure of the skin to sunlight but many women – exposed less in winter and reluctant to bare themselves in summer because of the dangers – are deficient.

There has been anecdotal evidence to suggest that breast cancer is less common among women who live closer to the Equator, where the sunshine is stronger.


However a new study provides evidence that the lower the levels of vitamin D in a woman’s blood-stream, the greater the risk of her developing breast cancer if she has passed the menopause.

Of more than 1,000 women who took part in a trial, those who were given both calcium and vitamin D supplements had less than half the chance of developing breast cancer than those given a placebo (13 cases among 446 women compared with 20 cases among 288 women.