Getting enough vitamin D in your diet may “reduce your risk of bowel cancer by about 50%”

According to researchers, getting enough vitamin D in your diet could prevent you from getting bowel cancer before the age of 50.

Consuming 300 IU of the nutrient each day – the equivalent of three glasses of milk or just 60g of salmon – can cut your risks by almost half.

Experts say the findings could eventually lead doctors to recommend that young adults get more of the “sunshine vitamin.”

The US government-funded research followed 94,000 women for 25 years, asking them every two years about their diet and health.

Vitamin D maintains healthy bones, teeth and muscles and is produced naturally when the skin is exposed to the sun.

But throughout fall and winter, the NHS recommends adults take a supplement of 400 IU each day.

Food sources include oily fish, with a 100g serving containing approximately 526 IU. Cow’s milk consumed around the world is generally high in vitamin D because it is fortified, but this is not the case in the UK.

Scientists at Harvard University noted vitamin D intake from food sources such as fish, mushrooms, eggs and milk have declined in recent decades.

They were also aware that there is a “worrying trend” for the incidence of colon cancer to increase among those under the age of 50, despite the overall decline in cases of this type of cancer.

In the UK, around 2,500 of the 42,000 people diagnosed with bowel cancer each year are under the age of 50.

Laboratory studies previously linked the two – but no the researchers had sought to know if there was a concrete association.

The researchers, also from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, identified 111 cases under the age of 50 with colon cancer.

Academics have also spotted 3,317 cases of intestinal polyps, which are small growths on the inner lining of the large intestine or rectum that can turn cancerous.

Their analysis found that a higher vitamin D intake was linked to a “dramatically reduced risk” of early-onset colon cancer and colon polyps.

And people who consumed nutrient-dense foods were even less likely to develop the disease than those who consumed the vitamin through supplements.

But the study, published in Gastroenterology, recognized that the results could be due to chance or unknown factors, rather than vitamin D intake.

They also said there was no “significant association” with vitamin D intake and lower risk of developing colon cancer after the age of 50, and were unable to explain why this was the case.

The researchers said more work needed to be done on a larger sample to cement their findings.

But experts said their findings could lead doctors to recommend that patients consume more vitamin D as a preventative strategy, alongside routine screening tests.

Dr Kimmie Ng, co-author of the study, said: “Our results further support that vitamin D may be important in young adults for the health and possibly prevention of colorectal cancer.

“Understanding the risk factors associated with early colorectal cancer is essential in order to be able to make informed diet and lifestyle recommendations, as well as to identify those at high risk to target for earlier screening. ”

Previous studies have linked vitamin D to strengthening the immune system.

And last winter in the UK, it was distributed to nursing home residents and extremely vulnerable people, as scientists believed a deficiency could increase the risk of catching the coronavirus.