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Serum 25(OH)-vitamin D concentration and risk of esophageal squamous dysplasia. Abnet CC, Chen W, Dawsey SM, Wei WQ, Roth MJ, Liu B, Lu N, Taylor PR, Qiao YL. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007 Sep;16(9):1889-93. PMID: 17855710 doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-07-0461 Background: Squamous dysplasia is the precursor lesion for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and nutritional factors play an important role in the etiology of this cancer. Previous studies using a variety of measures for vitamin D exposure have reached different conclusions about the association between vitamin D and the risk of developing esophageal cancer. Conclusions: Higher serum 25(OH)D concentrations were associated with significantly increased risk of squamous dysplasia. No obvious source of measured or unmeasured confounding explains this finding. In conclusion, we found that a higher serum 25(OH)D concentration was associated with an increased risk of esophageal squamous dysplasia, the precursor lesion for ESCC. This finding concurs with our previous prospective study which found that higher vitamin D status was associated with increased risk of incident ESCC in this same population. These unexpected findings suggest that further studies of the association of vitamin D and digestive tract cancers are needed before the effect of vitamin D in different populations can be elucidated.

Research just published in the American Association for Cancer Research's Cancer Prevention Research identifies a class of flavonoids called anthocyanins in black raspberries that's been shown to inhibit cancer cell growth and stimulate apoptosis (the death of cancer cells) in the esophagus of rats treated with an esophageal carcinogen

Current impediments to acceptance of the ultraviolet-B-vitamin D-cancer hypothesis. Grant WB, Boucher BJ. Anticancer Res. 2009 Sep;29(9):3597-604. PMID: 19667154 The ultraviolet-B (UVB)-vitamin D-cancer hypothesis was proposed in 1980. There have been numerous ecological, observational and other studies of the hypothesis. There are about 14 types of cancer for which it seems to apply: bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, gallbladder, gastric, ovarian, pancreatic, rectal, renal and vulvar cancer and both Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Nonetheless, the hypothesis has not yet been accepted by public health agencies. Some of the reasons for this include a distrust of ecological studies, some mistrust of observational studies, and the existence of just one positive randomized controlled trial, an analysis of a vitamin D and calcium supplementation study involving post-menopausal women in Nebraska. Paradigm shifts such as this generally take time, in part due to opposition from those content with the status quo. In this paper, results of ecological studies in the United States using summertime solar UVB as the index of vitamin D production, which is highly asymmetrical with respect to latitude, and indices for other cancer risk-modifying factors (air pollution, alcohol consumption, dietary iron and zinc, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, smoking and urban/rural residence) are discussed in terms of supporting the hypothesis. These studies were not considered while other ecological studies were examined in recent critiques of the hypothesis. While additional randomized controlled trials would, of course, be helpful, the current evidence seems to satisfy the criteria for causality as outlined by A. Bradford Hill.

Serum vitamin D concentration and prostate cancer risk: a nested case-control study. Ahn J, Peters U, Albanes D, Purdue MP, Abnet CC, Chatterjee N, Horst RL, Hollis BW, Huang WY, Shikany JM, Hayes RB; Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial Project Team. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008 Jun 4;100(11):796-804. Epub 2008 May 27. PMID: 18505967 doi:10.1093/jnci/djn152 CONCLUSION: The findings of this large prospective study do not support the hypothesis that vitamin D is associated with decreased risk of prostate cancer; indeed, higher circulating 25(OH)D concentrations may be associated with increased risk of aggressive disease. In summary, results from this large prospective study of men who underwent standardized prostate cancer screening in the context of a screening trial do not support the hypothesis that higher serum vitamin D status is associated with decreased risk of prostate cancer. The study showed no association of vitamin D level with nonaggressive disease; however, it raises the possibility that higher vitamin D level may be associated with increased risks for aggressive disease, although a clear monotonic dose-response relationship was lacking. Along with recent reports of adverse associations for higher vitamin D status and risk of pancreatic (32) and esophageal (33,34) cancer, caution should be taken in recommending high doses of vitamin D or sunlight exposure to the general public for prostate cancer prevention. Future analyses are warranted to confirm these results and to further clarify the effects of vitamin D on aggressive prostate cancer.

The Linxian trials: mortality rates by vitamin-mineral intervention group. Blot WJ, Li JY, Taylor PR, Guo W, Dawsey SM, Li B. Am J Clin Nutr. 1995 Dec;62(6 Suppl):1424S-1426S. PMID: 7495242

ScienceDaily (Apr. 10, 2009) - New research from Trinity College Dublin published in this month's Annals of Surgery points to a potentially significant advance in the treatment of patients undergoing major cancer surgery. The study was carried out by the oesophageal research group at Trinity College Dublin and St James's Hospital. A randomised controlled trial showed omega-3 fatty acids given as part of an oral nutritional supplement resulted in the preservation of muscle mass in patients undergoing surgery for oesopahageal cancer, a procedure normally associated with significant weight loss and quality of life issues.

Prospective study of serum 25(OH)-vitamin D concentration and risk of oesophageal and gastric cancers. Chen W, Dawsey SM, Qiao YL, Mark SD, Dong ZW, Taylor PR, Zhao P, Abnet CC. Br J Cancer. 2007 Jul 2;97(1):123-8. Epub 2007 Jun 5. PMID: 17551495 We prospectively examined the relation between pretrial serum vitamin D status and risk of oesophageal and gastric cancers among subjects who developed cancer over 5.25 years of follow-up, including 545 oesophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC), 353 gastric cardia adenocarcinomas, 81 gastric noncardia adenocarcinomas, and an age- and sex-stratified random sample of 1105 subjects. We found no associations for gastric cardia or noncardia adenocarcinoma. Among subjects with low vitamin D status, higher serum 25(OH)D concentrations were associated with significantly increased risk of ESCC in men, but not in women. Further refinements of the analysis did not suggest any factors, which could explain this unexpected result. In conclusion, we found a direct association between higher serum 25(OH)D concentration and increased risk of ESCC in men but not women in a large population-based prospective cohort study from rural China. We found no association with risk of gastric cardia or noncardia adenocarcinoma in either sex. Greater than 50% of our cohort had an inadequate serum 25(OH)D concentration, yet higher concentrations were associated with increased risk of ESCC compared to lower concentrations.