A vitamin that can enhance cancer immunity

A team of authors from leading research facilities in the US and Denmark has achieved unexpected results in a trial related to gastrointestinal cancer.

Researchers from the Francis Crick Institute, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Aalborg University (Denmark) have found that a diet rich in vitamin D can provide benefits. better immunity to some cancers.

According to the article published in the journal Science, this finding was proven by the authors with a direct test on mice and an analysis based on data from 1.5 million Danish people.

Foods rich in vitamin D can help strengthen cancer immunity - (AI graphic image).

In the first experiment, it was discovered that mice with a diet rich in vitamin D seemed to have better immunity when gastrointestinal tumors were transplanted into their bodies.

They analyzed the intestines of these mice and found that vitamin D affected epithelial cells in the intestines, thereby increasing the number of bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis .

This type of bacteria gave mice better immunity to cancer, because the transplanted tumors did not grow as much.

To confirm this, the researchers fed mice on a normal diet directly supplemented with Bacteroides fragilis. They receive similar cancer-immune benefits.

Besides, the authors conducted 2 analyzes on data from 1.5 million Danes and found 2 problems.

• First , daily vitamin D intake is lower and cancer risk is higher.
• Second, looking specifically at cancer patients, those with higher vitamin D levels are more likely to respond well to immune-based cancer treatments.

This result coincides with a number of previous studies, conducted by other groups of authors.

Although Bacteroides fragilis is also found in the human microbiome, the authors suggest that further research is needed to understand whether vitamin D enhances cancer immunity in humans through this pathway. Is there another mechanism that contributes?

However, the above evidence is enough to show that eating enough vitamin D will help you reduce the risk of gastrointestinal cancer to some extent. In addition, vitamin D is also a micronutrient needed for many other organ systems, such as the skeletal system, nervous system.

According to Healthline , vitamin D can be easily found in many delicious, nutritious foods.

First are oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines. Among them, salmon is the richest in vitamin D, 2.5 - 5 times more than other types of fish. Natural salmon has a higher concentration than farmed salmon.

Next , vitamin D is also abundant in mushrooms, egg yolks, cow's milk, beef liver, fish liver oil, shrimp, nuts. Some dark green vegetables, salty fruits, Avocados, bananas. also have a fair amount of vitamin D.

Additionally, you can supplement vitamin D in pharmaceutical form. You should consult your doctor when choosing this option.