Obesity causes 20 percent of all cancer, low vitamin D may be the connection – meta-analysis - Sept 2014

Obesity and cancer: the role of vitamin D.

BMC Cancer. 2014 Sep 25;14:712. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-14-712.
Shanmugalingam T1, Crawley D, Bosco C, Melvin J, Rohrmann S, Chowdhury S, Holmberg L, Van Hemelrijck M.

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Overview Obesity and Vitamin D
Cancer 284 items Overview Cancer and vitamin D
After Cancer Diagnosis 110 items
Bladder Cancer 27 items
Breast Cancer 252 items Overview Breast Cancer and Vitamin D
Colon Cancer 141 items Overview Cancer-Colon and vitamin D
Lung Cancer 54 items Overview Lung cancer and vitamin D
Lymphoma Cancer 25 items
Prostate Cancer 101 items Overview Prostate Cancer and Vitamin D
Pancreatic Cancer 55 items
Skin Cancer 121 items Overview Suntan, melanoma and vitamin D
Obesity linked to 13 cancers, the linkage is probably vitamin D – Aug 2016

40 citations of this study as of June 2021

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Vitamin D, Advanced Colorectal Cancer and High BMI: Is Obesity A Triple Agent? - 2021 Master thesis https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/23795/ PDF not available

BACKGROUND:
It is estimated that 20% of all cancer cases are caused by obesity. Vitamin D is thought to be one of the mechanisms underlying this association. This review aims to summarise the evidence for the mediating effect of vitamin D on the link between obesity and cancer.

METHODS:
Three literature searches using PubMed and Embase were conducted to assess whether vitamin D plays an important role in the pathway between obesity and cancer:

(1) obesity and cancer;
(2) obesity and vitamin D; and
(3) vitamin D and cancer.

A systematic review was performed for (1) and (3), whereas a meta-analysis including random effects analyses was performed for (2).

RESULTS:

(1) 32 meta-analyses on obesity and cancer were identified; the majority reported a positive association between obesity and risk of cancer.
(2) Our meta-analysis included 12 original studies showing a pooled relative risk of 1.52 (95% CI: 1.33-1.73) for risk of vitamin D deficiency (<50 nmol/L) in obese people (body mass index>30 kg/m2).
(3) 21 meta-analyses on circulating vitamin D levels and cancer risk were identified with different results for different types of cancer.

CONCLUSION:
There is consistent evidence for a link between obesity and cancer as well as obesity and low vitamin D. However, it seems like the significance of the mediating role of vitamin D in the biological pathways linking obesity and cancer is low. There is a need for a study including all three components while dealing with bias related to dietary supplements and vitamin D receptor polymorphisms.

PMID: 25255691

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