[{"command":"settings","settings":{"ajaxPageState":{"theme":"hm_theme","theme_token":"oT4cUKkjN8eL5aE1fuWVTbQE8EACKltLnnoY1zqt47g","libraries":"eJwDAAAAAAE"},"ajaxTrustedUrl":{"form_action_p_pvdeGsVG5zNF_XLGPTvYSKCf43t8qZYSwcfZl2uzM":true},"pluralDelimiter":"\u0003","user":{"uid":0,"permissionsHash":"2af85631393b514cbde3779a1f71d92618d53b94b54ea1960d28b2e2d121ff12"}},"merge":true},{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6030\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ESunshine vitamin could halve the risk of liver cancer\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo combat this poor prognosis, European scientists are conducting a number of studies into the causes of liver cancer, which is on the rise in some European countries including the UK and France.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/24644045\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eresearch\u003C\/a\u003E linking blood levels of vitamin D \u2013 the so-called sunshine vitamin \u2013 to the disease was carried out using data from the EPIC database, part-funded by the EU, which holds twenty years\u2019 worth of information on the health and diet of more than 520\u0026nbsp;000 people from 10 European countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study included 138 people from EPIC who had developed hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer. The levels of vitamin D in their blood, taken prior to their cancer diagnosis, was compared with the vitamin D levels in control subjects who had not gone on to develop the disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey found that higher blood vitamin D levels were linked to a 49 % reduction in the risk of liver cancer, which held true regardless of factors such as obesity, smoking, pre-existing liver damage and liver ailments such as infectious hepatitis. \u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018EPIC has produced an exceptionally large number of scientific publications and results that have highlighted how nutrition, obesity, for example, and related factors influence the incidence of cancer.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Elio Riboli, EPIC Coordinator at Imperial College London. \u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Vitamin D has been a focus of attention in cancer prevention during the last several decades due to its anti-carcinogenic effects,\u2019 said Dr Veronika Fedirko, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Emory University in the United States, who led the project. \u2018Our findings suggest a role for vitamin D in the aetiology (cause) of hepatocellular cancer, but it remains to be determined whether the association is causal as there may be other factors involved.\u2019\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Mazda Jenab, the senior author and a scientist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, added that there is steadily growing scientific evidence that low levels of vitamin D in the blood are a sign of increased risk for various cancers, in particular colorectal cancer, but that \u2018public health advocacy for vitamin D supplementation for cancer prevention must be based on more evidence\u2019.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough there is some basic scientific evidence supporting the association between vitamin D and liver health, the study was the first detailed investigation into whether there is a direct link between levels of the vitamin and liver cancer in Europe.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVitamin D is an unusual vitamin in that it is manufactured by the body when skin is exposed to sunlight. It is difficult to get adequate levels from food alone and people may need to take supplements to top up their levels, particularly in the winter months when sunshine is limited.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis finding is one of the latest to emerge from data collected through the EPIC project, which was set up in 1993 to investigate the link between nutrition and health.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018For investigating cancers, and especially rare cancers such as hepatocellular carcinoma, it is very important to have access to a large cohort such as EPIC,\u2019 said Dr Fedirko. \u2018EPIC provides a unique opportunity to look at various exposures before the onset of disease, and multiple health outcomes that are very important for European and global populations.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe health, nutrition and lifestyle data of half a million people has been tracked over two decades, meaning researchers now have access to a rich source of information for their work. This information includes details on the dietary and nutritional profile of more than 70\u0026nbsp;000 people who have gone on to develop cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EImportantly, the project collected data and blood samples from participants when they were healthy, meaning that it is one of the world\u2019s best resources for exploring the causes of disease and identifying biomarkers for early detection. \u2018In helping to fund and build this key resource, the EU has put itself at the forefront of research into cancer prevention,\u2019 said Dr Isabelle Romieu from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, one of the project\u2019s principal investigators.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a previous study also using data from EPIC, the same researchers demonstrated that people with high levels of vitamin D in their blood were 40 % less likely to develop bowel cancer than people with low levels.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018EPIC has produced an exceptionally large number of scientific publications and results that have highlighted how nutrition, obesity, for example, and related factors influence the incidence of cancer,\u2019 said Professor Elio Riboli, EPIC coordinator at Imperial College London.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther results to have come out of the data so far include a link between several cancers and excessive alcohol consumption and obesity, as well as an association between diet and cancer, with diets high in fish, fibre or low in red and processed meat reducing bowel cancer risk.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018EPIC is now a very mature resource for research which is available to the scientific community,\u2019 said Prof. Riboli. \u003Cdiv class=\u0022moreinfoblock\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3\u003EObesity links\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EThe likelihood of developing liver cancer also increases four-fold if you are obese, a connection which is being investigated by the EU-funded OBECAN project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere are several reasons for this link. One is that obese people store excess fat in their livers, which puts them at risk of fatty liver disease and cirrhosis, the biggest risk factor for liver cancer. Another is that obesity can lead to insulin resistance, which can make tumours grow faster, and the final link is that obese people also tend to have higher levels of inflammation in their bodies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Guadalupe Sabio Buzo, leader of OBECAN, said the project is trying to establish the most important factors associating obesity with liver cancer.\u0026nbsp;\u2018Is it the insulin, the fatty liver, or the inflammation?\u2019 she said. \u2018What is important to target or control in obese people to ensure that they get less liver cancer?\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-cgntwd76lhjt5uvchx2ck5lder-trms2pldrpyv3ewm\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-CgNTWd76LHJt5UVCHx2Ck5LDEr_trMs2plDrpYV3eWM\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]