Calcium and Vitamin D Reduce Melanoma Risk in High-Risk Women

Researchers at Stanford have previous shown that mice lacking vitamin D receptors have more skin cancer.  In vitro studies have also shown that adding vitamin D to skin cancer cells sometimes reduces their growth.  

Now, a new analysis suggests high-risk women who take Vitamin D and calcium supplements might have a lower risk of melanoma. 

The researchers analyzed data from the Women’s Health Initiative study, which randomized 36,282 postmenopausal women to 400IU of vitamin D and 1000mg of calcium supplements or placebo and followed them for 7 years.