Vitamin D deficiency may play a role in the development of uterine fibroids. That’s the preliminary observation from an epidemiological study of more than 1,000 women in the Washington, D.C. area.
Women were screened for fibroids with ultrasound technology and their blood samples were tested for a key marker called 25-hydroxyvitamin D. In addition, the subjects in the study filled out questionnaires about how much time they spent in the sun.
Women with healthy levels of vitamin D circulating in their blood were one third less likely to have fibroids. And those who spent over an hour in the sun daily were 40 percent less likely to develop these benign tumors. Although an observational study can’t prove vitamin D prevents fibroids, it should encourage further research on this essential nutrient.
[Epidemiology, May, 2013]
The People's Perspective on Medicine