Researchers at the Cancer Prevention Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle examined if nonvitamin, nonmineral specialty supplements cut the risk of prostate cancer using data from the VITamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) cohort. The 35,239 men in the study ranged in age from 50-76 years and were residents of western Washington State. and who completed an extensive baseline questionnaire in 2000-2002.

Scientists from Tohoku University in Japan have found a role for vitamin D in clearing the brain of beta amyloid, a toxic compound that accumulates in the plaques that occur in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients.  In the researchers words “It was reported that single nucleotide polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene increase the risk of impairment of cognitive function and developing Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting a relation between serum vitamin D levels and risk of Alzheimer’s disease”. This means that people who genetically do not handle Vitamin D appropriately in their brain have an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease however the study itself was in mice.   Professor Tesuya Terasaki and his colleagues at Tohuko University’s Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences injected mice with 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3; the active form of vitamin D3 in the body.