By Debjani Baidyaray
Mumbai, March 09: Men who are exposed to sunlight during their work have reduced their chances of risk of kidney cancer in comparison to those who less exposed to sunlight at work, claims a new study.
This study has been published early online in
CANCER, a peer reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
Vitamin D plays an important role in regulating the production of cells that helps in preventing cancer. Sunlight is a potential source of vitamin D apart from food and other supplements and helps in preventing cancer.
The researchers led by Sara Karami of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville and her colleagues conducted a study with 1,097 people suffering from kidney cancer and 1,476 individuals with cancer from four Central and Eastern European countries.
The occupational details and demographic information of these participants were collected through in-person interviews and occupational sunlight exposure indices were estimated based on industry and job titles.
A reduction of 24 percent to 38 percent in kidney cancer risk was observed by the investigators with increasing sunlight exposure among male participants in the study.
The same, however, was not noticed among the working women in the study. While there could various reasons for such a difference between the genders, biological or behavioral differences may play a big role. The differences could be results of various gender specific activities such as recreational sunlight exposure and physical activity levels.
Also read: Vitamin D linked to reduced fracture risk in elderlyTAGS: Vitamin D, kidney cancer
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