Over 4 Percent of Vitamin D Deficient People Developed Cancer in Study

Colorectal cancer was the most common cancer among people with vitamin D deficiency, followed by cancers of the liver, breast, and lungs.

Foods rich in vitamin D are shown in an illustration. Shutterstock

More than 4 percent of people suffering from vitamin D deficiency were found to have developed cancer, with the cancer rate worsening as age increased, according to a recent study.

The study, published in the Frontiers in Nutrition journal on Dec. 7, analyzed 5,242 people from Taiwan with vitamin D deficiency. The development of new-onset cancer (cancer in its beginning stages) was seen in 229 patients, representing 4.37 percent of individuals in the study. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the annual rate of new cancers in the United States among the general population in 2020 was 403 per 100,000 individuals or 0.4 percent.