Sunshine May Protect Prostate

Caduceus over Leonardo da Vinci "Proportions Of Man" drawing, on texture, with PROSTATE CANCER lettering, finished graphic (AP)

(WebMD) Sun-exposed white men are less likely to get prostate cancer than their less tanned brethren, a new study shows.

That's no reason for men to recklessly sunbathe. The greater a person's lifetime sun exposure, the greater a person's risk of skin cancer. But the finding does indicate that vitamin D — which humans can get from sun exposure — protects against prostate cancer.

Also protective are genes that let some people's bodies use vitamin D more efficiently, find Esther M. John, PhD, of the Northern California Cancer Center; Gary G. Schwartz, PhD, of Wake Forest University, and colleagues.

"It's a pretty impressive finding," Schwartz tells WebMD. "Men with high solar exposure had their risk of prostate cancer cut in half. This leaves us with even greater confidence that vitamin D deficiency really does increase a man's risk of prostate cancer."

The findings appear in the June 15 issue of Cancer Research.

Vitamin D Detective Finds Prostate Cancer Clue

Schwartz first proposed a link between prostate cancer and vitamin D in 1990. That's when he noticed that the populations most likely to get too little vitamin D are the same populations most likely to get prostate cancer.