Vitamin and Calcium Supplements May Slash Breast Cancer Risk

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, with over one million new cases diagnosed annually worldwide. Jaime Matta, from the Ponce School of Medicine (Puerto Rico), and colleagues studied data collected on 268 women with breast cancer, matching it with data from 457 healthy controls.  The team found that women were more likely to have breast cancer if they were older, had a family history of breast cancer, had no history of breastfeeding and had lower DNA repair capacity. Notably, vitamin supplements appeared to reduce the risk of breast cancer by about 30 %, whereas calcium supplements reduced the risk by 40%.  Postulating that calcium supplements may serve to enhance DNA repair capacity, a complex biological process involving more than 200 proteins that, if disrupted, can lead to cancer, the team found that after controlling for the level of DNA repair capacity, calcium supplements were no longer as protective, but the link between vitamin supplements and breast cancer reduction remained. The researchers conclude that: “Vitamins and calcium intake are protective for breast cancer and are associated with higher [DNA repair capacity] levels. Vitamins’ intake is an independent protective factor for [breast cancer] while the protective effect of calcium may be explained by an increased [DNA repair capacity].”