Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Nutrition

US recommendations fail to correct vitamin D deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency is widespread among women with breast cancer. Guidelines currently recommend daily supplementation with 400 IU vitamin D3; however, attainment of a circulating level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D defined as sufficient (that is, ≥75 nmol/l) might not be possible with this level of supplementation, according to data published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Dose–response analysis of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels after vitamin D3 supplementation.

References

  1. Standing Committee on the Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes, Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Dietary reference intakes for calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin D and fluoride 250–287 (National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1997).

  2. Crew, K. D. et al. High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency despite supplementation in premenopausal women with breast cancer undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy. J. Clin. Oncol. 27, 2151–2156 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Vieth, R., Chan, P. C. & MacFarlane, G. D. Efficacy and safety of vitamin D3 intake exceeding the lowest observed adverse effect level. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 73, 288–294 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Hollis, B. W. Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels indicative of vitamin D sufficiency: implications for establishing a new effective dietary intake recommendation for vitamin D. J. Nutr. 135, 317–322 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Talwar, S. A., Aloia, J. F., Pollack, S. & Yeh, J. K. Dose response to vitamin D supplementation among postmenopausal African American women. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 86, 1657–1662 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Heaney, R. P., Davies, K. M., Chen, T. C., Holick, M. F. & Barger-Lux, M. J. Human serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol response to extended oral dosing with cholecalciferol. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 77, 204–210 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wactawski-Wende, J. et al. Calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and the risk of colorectal cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 354, 684–696 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Giovannucci, E. et al. Prospective study of predictors of vitamin D status and cancer incidence and mortality in men. J. Natl Cancer Inst. 98, 451–459 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Abbas, S. et al. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer—results of a large case–control study. Carcinogenesis 29, 93–99 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Lappe, J. M., Travers-Gustafson, D., Davies, K. M., Recker, R. R. & Heaney, R. P. Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: results of a randomized trial. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 85, 1586–1591 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bruce W. Hollis.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

Bruce W. Hollis is a consultant for DiaSorin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hollis, B. US recommendations fail to correct vitamin D deficiency. Nat Rev Endocrinol 5, 534–536 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2009.178

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2009.178

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing