Vitamin D, calcium halves melanoma risk: study

Certain women at risk for developing melanoma may cut the likelihood in half by taking vitamin D/calcium supplements. The report was published in the the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Researchers collected data on 36,282 postmenopausal women, 50 to 79 years old, who took part in the Women's Health Initiative study. As part of a test to see if calcium plus vitamin D had any effect on hip fractures or colon cancer, the women were randomly assigned to take supplements or placebo. Over about seven years of follow-up, the women taking the supplements who had had previous non-melanoma skin cancer reduced their risk of developing melanoma by 57 percent, compared with similar women not taking the supplements.