VITAMIN D may help to limit the progress of breast cancer, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology.

The body produces vitamin D when exposed to sunlight and it is also present in food, such as eggs and oily fish.

Patients should, therefore, take supplements or expose themselves to the sun, researchers at Imperial College London said after finding that those in the later stages of the disease had low levels of the vitamin.

The study measured levels of vitamin D in the blood of 279 women who had invasive breast cancer. Women with early stage cancers were found to have significantly higher levels of the vitamin (15 to 184 mmol/litre) than the women in the advanced stages of the disease (16 to 146 mmol/litre).

The reasearchers said that the reasons for the disparity were not clear. However, the results, along with the findings of previous studies, lead them to believe that low levels of vitamin D may promote the progression of the disease to its advanced stages.

Vitamin D helps to form and maintain strong bones by encouraging the body to absorb calcium.

Other research has suggested that it may help to prevent cells proliferating in prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers. Laboratory studies have also shown that the vitamin stops cancer cells dividing and enhances their likelihood of dying.

Dr Carlo Palmieri, of the Department of Cancer Medicine at Imperial College, in London, and lead author of the paper, said: “This report . . . lends support to the idea that vitamin D has a role in the progression of breast cancer. The next step . . . is to try and understand the potential causes and mechanisms underlying these differences and the precise consequences at a molecular level.

“We also need to look at the clinical implications of monitoring and maintaining high-circulating vitamin D levels in breast cancer patients.”

Times Recommends

• Catalogue of failings ‘leaves others at risk’
• Tourists told to stay away amid Venice floods
• Google generation has no need for rote learning