Washington: The U.S. National Cancer Institute researchers have found that vitamin D reduces the colon cancer death risk, but the vitamin does not seem to affect the chances of dying from any other type of cancer.

U.S. National Cancer Institute epidemiologist Michal Freedman and his team, sought to determine whether vitamin D can reduce a person’s chances of dying from various cancer types.

The team tracked 16,818 people who joined a nationwide U.S. government health survey between 1988 and 1994, follow them through 2000. Out of these, 536 died of cancer.

The Report published Journal of the National Cancer Institute articulated that participants with higher levels of vitamin D had 72 % less risk of dying from colorectal cancer as compared to others with lowest levels of vitamin D.

Vitamin D, produced by body when exposed to sunlight, is not found in many foods. Milk and salmon (fish) contain vitamin D.

Freedman said, “We didn’t find a relationship between the circulating vitamin D levels and total cancer mortality. And that was true for men and women and the racial and ethnic groups we looked at.”

She added, “The part about colorectal cancer is consistent with some other studies and is intriguing.”

Colorectal cancer starts in colon or rectum. Nearly 50,000 people die annually from it in the United States alone.

Researchers also said that previous research indicated that vitamin D may have characteristics that could protect against cancer such as reducing tumor growth and inducing cancer sell death.

Davis and Dwyer wrote, “While vitamin D may well have multiple benefits beyond bone, health professionals and the public should not, in a rush to judgment, assume that vitamin D is a magic bullet and consume high amounts of vitamin D. More definitive data on both benefits and potential adverse effects of high doses are urgently needed.”

Another research showed that retinoic acid, derivative of vitamin A, may help to reduce risk of lung cancer of former smokers.

Researchers suspect that lung cells damaged in smoking period may continue to grow and evolve into cancer even after that person has quit. The therapy reduced the growth among those lung cells.

The study is published by University of Texas in the Journal of National Cancer Institute.

With tobacco smoking, the chances of lung cancer risk are 90 %. In former smokers, about half of newly-diagnosed lung cancers occur.

The volunteers wither received the 3-month treatment combining a form of retinoic acid with vitamin E, a different form of retinoic acid in isolation or a placebo.

Researcher Dr Walter Hittelman said, “While we still do not know whether reduced lung cell growth will reduce lung cancer incidence, the results suggest that retinoid treatment in combination with other preventive agents may be an attractive avenue to explore further for preventing lung cancer in former smokers.”

“The effect of vitamin derivatives and supplements on lung cancer is unclear - so giving up smoking is by far the best way for smokers to reduce their risk of the disease,” said Josephine Querido, of the charity Cancer Research UK.

“These early results are intriguing, but much more work is needed before we know for sure whether these chemicals could prevent, or slow, lung cancer growth.”